iGo To Scotland
by schillingklaus
Summary: Occultist Romance. Mrs. Briggs leads a field trip of American pupils to Scotland, including an encounter with the monster of Loch Ness. Nevel/Megan,Carly/Dustin,Lola/Drake,Chase/Addie,Zoey/Spencer ...


** iGo To Scotland**

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** Klaus Schilling **

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**Rating: **PG-13

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**Disclaimer: **iDon't Own _Zoey 101_ or _Drake & Josh_ or _iCarly_ or _Unfabulous_ or _Ned's Declassified SSG_ or _True Jackson VP_.

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**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the quoted songs.

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**Abstract**

**Fandoms: **_Zoey 101_, _Drake & Josh_, _iCarly_, _True Jackson VP_, _Unfabulous_, _Ned's Declassified SSG_

**Characters: **Chase/Addie, Dustin/Carly, Logan/Maris Bingham, Quinn/Cookie, Zoey/Spencer, True/Geena, Megan/Nevel …

**Genre: **Melodramatic massive multiplot story, Mystery, Spiritual, Horror, Supernatural, Family, Friendship, Fluff, Science Fiction

**Summary: **Mrs. Briggs leads a field trip of American pupils to Scotland where they are investigating the monster of Loch Ness.

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**Table of Contents**

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1. The Tidings

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1.

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1.

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1.

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1.

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2. The Sky above London

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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2.

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3. Mull of Kintyre

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3.

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3.

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3.

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4. Heart In The Highlands

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4.

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4.

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5. Aberdeen

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5.

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5.

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5.

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5.

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6. Inverness

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6.

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6.

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7. The Beast

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7.

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8. Back To The South

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8.

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8.

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9. Firth of Forth

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9.

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9.

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9.

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9.

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10. Concert In Glasgow

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10.

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10.

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10.

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10.

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10.

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11. Back To USA

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11.

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11.

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11.

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11.

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11.

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11.

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11. The End

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** Chapter 1. The Tidings**

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_May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan_

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-Book of Job 3:8

* * *

Freddie Benson counted down on the seconds. "Five, four, three, two, one …"

"I'm Carly." Carly Shay smiled sweetly into the camera.

"I'm Sam!" Sam grinned mischievously." We're here at iCarly, but you will miss out on us for the next three weeks." She triggered the fake boos.

Carly sighed. "That's because we're going to …"

Freddie projected a map of Great Britain onto the green screen behind Carly and Sam …

"Scotland! Along with some pupils from other schools across the country …" Carly completed her announce. "But don't worry, we'll take the best shots and will show them in the first webcasts after our return!"

Sam triggered the fake applause. "Such as Freddie being eaten by the monster of Loch Ness!" Sam did not believe in the monster of Loch ness, she just wanted to taunt Freddie mercilessly, her favourite hobby for quite some time.

Freddie glanced oddly at Sam.

"But Sam …" Carly objected. "If our tech profi gets swallowed by Nessie, our cam will be lost … hence no pics!"

Sam shrugged. "Don't worry. Nessie will spit out the mangled cadaver of Dorkward right afterwards, along with the cam." Sam grinned mischievously. "Freddorks taste icky!"

Freddie started grudging noisily.

Carly sighed. "Unfortunately, the field trip will be guided by Mrs. Briggs whose ancestors are from Scotland."

Sam triggered the boos. "Too bad she's a relative of Nessie and will thus probably be spared."

Carly was excited because she was going to see her dad when the whole squad made a stop at London.

* * *

Dustin and Zoey Brooks were excited. They were visiting their parents in London. Usually, they studied at a private Californian school named PCA, but there were still holidays. Alas, instead of returning straight to LA, there was something special awaiting them: Some of the pupils from their school participated in the field trip to Scotland at the end of the summer. Dustin and Zoey thus simply joined them when they made a stop in London, and then they were going to return to LA with the larger group. That was going to be a nice change, or so they hoped. They had never been to Scotland.

"OK, kids …" Mrs. Brooks announced. "You will be brought to the meeting point by a limo of the air force."

Dustin and Zoey looked strangely at each other, and then they looked at Mrs. Brooks. "The Royal Air Force?"

Mrs. Brooks shook her head. "The US Airforce, they have got a quarter, here in London." The mother snickered. "Well, saying it straight forward … we know General Shay from the Air Force headquarters here, he has been at the ambassor's party."

Dustin and Zoey shrugged helplessly.

"Well … " Mrs. Brooks continued. "General Shay has got a daughter in Seattle, she's going on the same field trip as you do. He will take you there in his official limo, fetching his daughter Carlotta at the same time."

"OK, mom …" Dustin and Zoey shrugged.

Dustin feared that the daughter of an Airforce general was totally boring and annoying like hell, commanding everyone around and shouting like a fury. And what sort of name was that, Carlotta, that sounded downright icky, and almost made him throw up.

* * *

LA International Airport, Terminal 101.

Most of the participants in the field trip were from various Californian schools, such as the PCA in Malibu, James K. Polk School in La Mesa, and Belleview in San Diego.

"Why do we have to go with Megan on the field trip?" Drake Parker, a rock star and highschool dropout from San Diego, asked his step brother and manager Josh Nichols, freshman at Caltech. He wasn't happy about having to accompany his mischievous little sister.

"Because you are going to give a few concerts in Great Britain at the same time," explained Josh. "Plus, we're not going to join their field trip, we're just joining the transcontinental flight. That's a whole lot cheaper, trust me!"

Unlike Josh, Drake wasn't any good in doing the maths that help to plan a budget trip.

Drake sighed. So be it, he thought grudgingly.

Megan grinned. "We're finally going to see Nessie, the monster of Loch Ness …"

Josh shook his head. "There are no monsters!"

"There are!" Megan grinned. "And Nessie is a nice monster, she only eats boobs." Her voice was particularly taunting yet sarcastic. She didn't really know what to think about the monster of Loch Ness, except that she hoped to be able to conjure it with her oboe, whatever the consequences.

At the same time, Logan Reese was at the throat of his falsely so-called girlfriend Quinn Pensky. "When we're at Loch Ness, I need to order a movie team in order to record the proof that there's a monster!"

Quinn shook her head. "The claims have to be analysed scientifically."

"No!" Logan thundered. "This time, we're going to do the right thing and scratch as much money as possible out of the monster! Think of Gozilla, Kong … we need to record it live, and market it at Hollywood, beating all known records in the business sector!"

"You've already caused too much trouble when you were that greedy at Redstone Gulch and stole the locket of Charles Galloway![[1]]"

"Not stolen, borrowed!" Logan corrected Quinn who just shrugged helplessly yet arrogantly.

Lola, roomie of Quinn and Zoey, tried to calm down the two belligerant teenagers. "If they make a movie, will I be shown on TV?" She grinned because she was a very ambitious future Hollywood star, and she wanted to boast in front of the camera with everything she had at her disposition, at every whatsoever occasion. "I'm going to wear the best make up available in Great Britain. Maybe the Queen will borrow me some?"

Quinn shook her head. "Dumb ignorants!" Then she snuggled up to Logan in a hypocritical manner that was way below her dignity, just to forget about their fundamental disagreements.

"He isn't worth it!" remarked Nevel Papperman, who stood nearby.

Quinn choked. "Erm … this is the son of the new wife of my uncle. [[2]] His name is Nevel! He's joining us on the trip and then to the PCA!"

Nevel stared at Logan in a demonic manner. "He's going to rue the day!"

Lola didn't care about Nevel's gaze. She still dreamt about being shown on TV next to the monster. "OK, Nevel … your hair is cute. May I ruffle it?"

"Quinn!" Nevel shouted for his step cousin, and threw another murderous gaze at Lola.

Quinn grabbed Lola. "Please, leave him in peace. He's very sensitive.[[3]]"

Lola shrugged with her shoulders. "OK?" Then her eyes hit something comepletely different. "Hey … isn't that … I'm going crazy! That is …"

Quinn wondered what Lola was halucinating.

"Drake Parker, the greatest rock star and kisser of California!" Lola yipped with extreme delight.

Quinn scratched her head. There he was, for real.

Josh noticed Lola. "Hey, there's one of the actresses that were recently present at the premiere party in Helen's cinema!"

Drake remembered her because she looked so hot. "Oh, what's her name?" Unlike Josh, Drake had a poor memory for names of strangers.

"Lola Martinez!" Josh smiled. "It seems she's going on the field trip, too!"

Drake smiled. "Hey, Lola Martinez?" He yelled at the girl.

"Drake!" Lola screamed, filled with excessive delight. "I've heard you're a very good kisser. Would you like to demonstrate your abilities?" She beamed.

Drake pressed his lips briefly against Lola's.

"The rumours are true!" Lola beamed like thousands of suns.

Finally, the delegation from Seattle arrived. It was Quinn's [[4]] and Nevel's hometown, thus a few of them recognised those two on site. And that was not always for the better of them …

"Nevel!" Carly screamed with dismay.

"Hah!" Nevel thundered. "Do you rue it, Carly?" He stomped his feet. "You rue it!"

Carly was consternated because that pest was following everywhere.

"I'm on a quest for seeking out and destroying the monster of Loch Ness, the Leviathan," admitted Nevel. "And those who are standing in my way are going to rue the day until dystopia!"

"Grow up, dork!" Sam yelled at Nevel.

Carly and Freddie preferred to ignore Nevel. Alas, his presence kind of spoiled their mood for the trip, at least for the time being.

Megan was mightily impressed when she saw and heard Nevel talking like a maniac prophet. "Cool! I know two guys who are for sure going to rue the day …" Megan and Carly looked very similar, and this didn't escape Megan. Fortunately, their dressing style was fairly different, as was their posture. So this similarity wasn't going to cause a lot of trouble, as much as she might have liked to use it in order to fool Drake and Josh. Megan definitely had to get to know Nevel closer. There were probably quite a few occasions for that, during the following 20 days of their field trip.

Mrs. Briggs took her megaphone. "You dern kids … now regroup according to the seat plan that you've been handed, so we may board the plane to London!"

Those pupils who did not yet know Mrs. Briggs thus got their first impression of the troubles and pains that wench was going to cause unto them for the duration of the excursion …

* * *

Not everyone was happy about the seat plan.

"What? Megan is going to sit right between us?" Drake asked Josh.

Megan grinned. "Yeah, I have to prevent you from doing nonsense!"

"Aw … who is not going to sit next to Carly?" Sam taunted Freddie mercilessly. The poor guy didn't know how to retaliate. Sam grinned recklessly when she took the seat right next to Carly's.

Quinn and Logan had hoped to be able to make out during the flight, but …

"Hah! That's my seat!" Nevel boomed when he occupied the spot right between Quinn and Logan.

"Attention!" Mrs. Briggs yelled across the plane. "During the flight, G.O.s and similar modern junk are prohibited. Instead, I'm going to entertain you with a perfect performance of Scottish Highland Music, This will prepare you well for the time in Scotland!"

The pupils moaned and shivered, but there was no trace of a mercy.

Mrs. Briggs played _The Piper of Dundee_ until many of the pupils started puking.

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** Chapter 2. The Sky above London**

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The plane touched down in New York where the rest of the American pupils were expected to come aboard.

There were not many left, as, for some odd reason, most pupils had preferred LA over NY.

"True Jackson!" One of the pupils introduced herself to Mrs. Briggs who checked the list. She nodded.

It took a while before the plane could take off again into the evening sky.

Geena Fabiano's eyes bugged out when True and her friends Lulu and Ryan passed by. "Hey! Do you make those shirts yourself?"

True nodded. "Yeah, I work for Madstyle."

Geena went insane. "Oh no! I suck!"

Addie, Geena's neighbour, tried hard to calm her down.

True wondered. "What's going on?"

Geena sobbed. "I've been designing my own fashion for 5 years, and I haven't made any money from it."

"Hey! That's just luck!" True took Geena's hand. "If we work together, we will get anywhere!" She promised.

Geena smiled.

Lulu squeezed herself between Quinn and Lola, starting to talk to them, but they were a bit annoyed.

Mrs. Briggs took her megaphone. "OK, now we're going to cross the ocean. I will please you with traditional highland music."

Lulu started to puke.

* * *

Krissy,[[5]] , a young woman from the peninsula of Kintyre, to the west of Glasgow, stood in the wind and the rain at the banks of the Thames, somewhere in the suburbs of London. She was going to serve the group of American pupils as a guide through Scotland. Tomorrow, she was going to join the gang. Krissy hated London with a passion. She hummed some Gaelic folk rock song.[[6]]

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.  
Chan eil an t-adhar os cionn Lunnainn a nochd soileir no dorcha.  
Gun sgial air coinneal mor latha no reultan na h-oidhche.  
An sea s'am baile gun chadal gun fhois is gun saorsa.  
Casan a' gluasad an abhainn an tuil.  
Na cuibhlichean's cabhaig a tionndaidh gun sgur.  
[[7]]

* * *

The limousine was already waiting.

Mrs. Brooks kissed both of her kids on the top of their heads before they vanished into the belly of the long vehicle.

Mr. Shay shook the hand of Mr. Brooks.

Two servants took care of the luggage of the kids.

"Greet the monster of Loch Ness from us!" yelled Mr. Brooks after his kids.

Dustin was a bit afraid of the story of the monster. It has been over a year that the ghost of Charles Galloway had haunted their boarding school.

Zoey threw her arms around her little brother. "I'm going to protect you from the monster. Promised!"

Dustin sighed with relief.

Finally, Mr. Shay had disappeared into the limousine, and off they went.

* * *

London Heathrow. This airport was one of the most visited of the world. Many stories, many destinies are meeting here, just as the streets and avenues of the city. For most people, the airport is just a junction in their life. The journey must go on.

Finally, the machine from Los Angeles and New York touched down on good old English ground.

Mrs. Briggs was carefully leading the pupils out on the airport.

This afternoon was sort of free for the kids, but they were not allowed to move around freely without an authorised responsible adult's supervision. Thus most of the kids preferred to stay in a nearby pub.

Mr. Shay met Mrs. Briggs in order to take over Carly. It was the first meeting of father and daughter after over a year.

Carly hugged her dad. "Don't call me Carlotta!"

Freddie and Sam preferred to stay with the mass of the pupils.

Sam knew that Mr. Shay was suspicious of her and her family : More than half of Sam's first and second order relatives were in prison or on probation.

Freddie had once caused too much hurlyburly when he had asked Mr. Shay for Carly's hand, against her protest. Hence he preferred to stay away from the leading officer.

Megan followed Drake and Josh. Their mom had told the boys to spend these few hours with their little sister.

Drake and Josh felt a bit burdenend, but they knew that they were going to miss Megan, thus it was OK.

* * *

Carly jumped into the limousine. She wondered about the other kids.

"These are Dustin and Zoey Brooks, kids of our neighbours," Mr. Shay told his daughter.

"OK …" Carly smiled and shook the hand of the other kids.

Zoey returned the gesture.

Dustin had been an avid viewer of iCarly DOT com for a view months. For him, Carly was the epitome of prettiness, smartness, and niceness. His jaw dropped to the ground, and his eyes bugged out, when he recognised Carlotta Shay aka Carly. His face turned a shade of flaming crimson, in no time. Fortunately, the limo was too dark for Carly to notice. He tried to return Carly's gesture, but she must have noticed that there was something wrong. Dustin felt miserable, with fleas in his tummy. He couldn't say "Hi" to Carly, he couldn't say anything at all.

Zoey wondered what had happened to her little brother. "Dustin? What's up?"

Dustin couldn't speak aloud, but he could still whisper. "I think I'm in love."

Zoey was flabbergasted. OK, if her ex-boyfriend Chase Matthews was to believe, he had been so equally fast, if not faster, given that he had not seen Zoey in a web show, as Dustin had done with Carly. But he had been able to keep it for himself for over three years. This means that Dustin must have been a hell of love sick. She needed to do something about it. Talk to Carly? Maybe she should wait until Carly noticed something. Otherwise it might have been seen as a patronising interference. She shrugged helplessly.

* * *

After having made a trip in the limo and taken a few milk shakes and fish and chips, Carly, Zoey, and Dustin arrived back at Heathrow, rejoining the main group of the field trip.

Carly was still worried that something was wrong with Dustin, and she even hesitated talking to Freddie and Sam. She addressed Zoey. "Your brother is so flabbergasted. Have I done something wrong?"

Zoey shook her head. "As a popular webshow host, you are certainly aware of having fans, some of them having a crush on you because you're so smart and nice and pretty."

Carly nodded and felt flattered. She beamed.

"See, and Dustin is such a fan, and he has been totally overwhelmed by this …" Zoey sighed.

"Aw my god!" Carly looked surprised.

Zoey nodded. "I know that you can't love each of your fans back … but if you have to turn him down, don't do this in a rude manner, please!"

Carly sighed. "I'd never do that … give me some time to get to know your brother a bit better."

Zoey nodded. "Fair enough!"

"Your bro may be lucky to have an elder sister like you." Carly sighed. "You've heard a bit about my elder brother and guardian …"

"Spencer?" Zoey guessed.

Carly nodded. "That's him. He'd fight like a lion for me, so I understand that you do the same for Dustin."

Zoey sighed with relief.

* * *

Drake and Josh bestowed Megan with a kiss on the top of her head before leaving her with the crowd.

Drake looked once more flirtingly at Lola who smiled back. He was sure that he was going to die from the desire to meet her again, which might happen at his concert in Glasgow at the end of the big tour.

* * *

Finally, the pupils were boarding the bed train that was taking them over night to Glasgow.

Mrs. Briggs controlled everything. Too bad she was not allowed to play the bagpipes over night, for everyone to hear.

Krissy was the last to board the train. She shook Mrs. Briggs's hand.

A whistle blew, and the train was bound for Scotland.

* * *

Most of the pupils were too tired and fell asleep in their cabins.

Zoey had to share compartment 101 with Lola Martinez and Quinn Pensky, just as she used to do at the PCA. The three girls had a lot to talk about.

Lola and Quinn told Zoey about their diverging plans concerning the monster of Loch Ness.

Zoey had no plans at all with respect to that monster. All she wanted was to have a few days of fun. Her last year had been very troublesome: Joining her parents to England, leaving heart-broken Chase Matthews alone. Returning to PCA for Chase's sake, just to see that they had effectively traded places. Falling for James Garrett, a blond rake, but getting haunted by remorses and breaking with him again. Finally, the encounter with Chase at Junior Prom - for a moment, Zoey had believed that the train of her luck had reached its final station, but, bear with it, the doubts concerning Chase increased day after day. Zoey showed remorses because of having kissed two boys within the same month, both of them not knowing about each other. Quinn and Lola were not much of a help. Zoey had to hope for a better start into her last year, lest she wanted to end up as a wrecked girl forever tormented by her relentlessly hammering remorses.

* * *

Sam and Carly accomodated in their compartment 13b.

A bubbly girl entered their cabin. "Sorry, I've been here in last minute. Mrs. Briggs told me that there was a free spot in here, didn't she?"

"Who are you?" Sam boomed rudely, much to Carly's dismay.

"I'm Nicole Bristow from Kansas." Nicole beamed. "I've heard that there are cute boys in Scotland, soooo cute …"

"Take the bed at the window!" Carly remarked.

Nicole accomodated over there. "The boys in Scotland wear skirts!" She beamed. "Isn't that cute?"

Carly and Sam were mildly annoyed, but they fell fast asleep.

Down to Nicole's arrival, Carly didn't get to talk to Sam about Dustin.

* * *

Dustin had to share a compartment with Nevel Papperman and Robby Carmichael[[8]] aka Scooter [[9]]. He knew Scooter from his school. They had been assigned class partners several times.

Scooter wondered why Dustin was so pale.

"Whoever is culpable for that …" Nevel yawned. "May he rue it! Until dystopia!" Then he fell asleep like just everyone else.

But Dustin wasn't inclined to let Carly rue anything …

* * *

Megan was a bit disappointed because she had to share a compartment with Lulu and True.

True talked about fashion. "I tell you, highland kilts are the great hit of the next season!"

Megan shook her head. What a boobette! Nobody would want to wear those heavy, itchy, ugly things … except maybe Drake and Josh …

Finally, they passed all out.

* * *

"My name is Dana Cruz …" A girl squeezed herself into the cabin of Addie Singer and Geena Fabiano. "I'm from California, but I have made my last three years in Paris as an exchanger. By the way, the fact that you have been in the compartment before me doesn't mean that you may choose your bed!" She drove away Addie and occupied the middle bed.

Geena was consternated. What a rude person!

Addie was dismayed. But she fell asleep in her new bed equally fast.

* * *

** Chapter 3. Mull of Kintyre**

* * *

It was the first day of the kids in Scotland. Before they continued towards the north, the group made an excursion to the West: Kintyre, a peninsula located to the west of Glasgow. It was not only the homeland of Krissy, but also Ms. Briggs claimed that her ancestry had been from there.

The kids boarded the coaches that were going to take them from Glasgow to Kintyre, passing Loch Lomond. The kids were free to sit where they wanted to, as Ms. Briggs had accidentally left her notes with the sitting arrangements in London.

Ms. Briggs grinned. "Before I'm going to perform the wonderful traditional tune _By yon Bonny Braes of Loch Lomond_[[10]], I'm making you aware of the significance of this impressive loch in Scottish history. "

A few of the pupils listened with interest, but most of them yawned, and started falling asleep.

Carly stayed awake. She wanted to earn extra credits for her history class. She had chosen to take history and English literature as her majors at college, and she was already enrolled for dual classes in those subjects. She had tricked Freddie and Sam into sitting next to each other, by making both of them believe that she was going to sit next to either of them. Now she chuckled triumphantly when she heard Freddie and Sam bicker their backside off, preventing each other from falling asleep during the coach trip. Carly had decided to sit next to Zoey Brooks because she was curious to hear more about Dustin.

"Dustin is a nice, loyal, and smart guy …" Zoey said. "There's nothing you have to fear from him if you decide to …"

"Ooooh …" Carly chuckled. Of course she didn't expect Zoey to badmouth him. Spencer would do the same, either, if he came to talk about Carly to some of her crushes.

"Unfortunately, he has had a lot of bad luck with girls, so far." Zoey sighed. "His first girlfriend, Trisha Kirby, first spoilt him, and then she treated him like dirt, trashing him for one of my best friends, Chase Matthews, after a few days, for no reason. Chase hadn't even remotely wanted something like that to happen. Though it was my fault … Trisha was such a bad girl, I commanded Chase to talk some sense into her …"

"Must have hurt …" Carly moaned. "I'm not sure whether my brother Spencer would intervene immediately if I had a bad boyfriend, but he sure wouldn't be pleased and do something about it …"

"Is Spencer your guardian?" Zoey asked.

Carly nodded. "He's a bit cranky, very much so, indeed …" She chuckled. "But he's always trying to give his best for me."

Zoey smiled. "I think about assuming guardianship for Dustin when I'm eighteen, just a few months to go … for the sake of insurances, tuition, and so on, which are cheaper with a legal residence status."

Carly nodded solemnly.

"Your blonde friend reminds me a lot of Trisha Kirby, …" Zoey shivered.

Carly choked. "Really, Sam is bad, and I don't know why I can still stand her, but we've been friends for almost six years, and she was way worse when …" She sighed.

"It's OK … you must have had a good influence on her …" Zoey smiled.

Carly shrugged. "Most of her family is in prison. Her mom isn't because she has been declared irresponsible for her own deeds by some shrinks and stuff … same shrink thinks that my impact is preventing Sam from ending up like her incarcerated Cousins, and that's one of the reasons why Sam's mom hasn't yet been stripped of the custodian status. Spencer is thus also sort of a co-custodian for Sam."

Zoey smiled. "Spencer must be wonderful …"

"Aw, he is …" Carly chuckled.

Ms. Briggs talked about the wars between Norway and Scotland in thirteenth century. "OK, and then the Scandinavian invaders under King Håkon decided to drag a whole fleet over land to Loch Lomond!"

Carly's eyes bugged out.

"They were nuts!" Zoey shrugged.

Lola had squeezed herself next to Megan, trying to milk a few infos about Drake. "Isn't he hot?" She swooned.

"Er …" Megan was close to puking. "He's just a jerk!"

"But a good-kissing jerk!" Lola squealed with delight.

"All good kissers are jerks!" Megan boomed.

Lola sighed with despair. She didn't mind Drake being a jerk.

"He switches girlfriends faster than his underwear!" Megan remarked.

Lola beamed. "He must be experienced in a variety of kissing styles!"

Megan gave it up. That wasn't going anywhere. Fortunately, she noticed Lola falling asleep, as the gonnabe diva couldn't stand Mrs. Briggs talking about the wars between Scots and Vikings, or Scots and the English invaders.

Dustin had snuck next to Freddie Benson. "It's cool to see the tech producer of a famous web show."

"You're a fan of iCarly?" Freddie smiled.

Dustin nodded. "And a fan of Carly!" He blushed deeply.

Freddie looked flabbergasted. Did this mean that Dustin was … oh no, Freddie's nightmare came true. He choked with jealousy. Fortunately, he was so tired from Mrs. Briggs that he fell asleep on site, unable to do anything bad to Dustin.

Nevel Papperman sat next to Robby Carmichael. "So … you are a neighbour of the Parkers?" Nevel asked Robby Scooter.

"I am …" Scooter sighed. "Megan wouldn't be that bad, but Drake and Josh are horrible."

Nevel shrugged.

Scooter had noticed Nevel blushing when he had mentioned Megan - already during the night trip from London to Glasgow, but even more today. "You've got feelings for Megan?"

Nevel nodded timidly. "I feel there's something destiny-like between the two of us. If only I knew what."

"You belive in destiny?" Scooter trembled. He was afraid of all the doom-and-gloom stories set in the future.

Nevel nodded firmly. "See, there's that fable about the monster of Loch Ness."

Scooter trembled more and more.

Nevel's eyes gleamed diabolically. "I'm sure that it's not just some fable monster. Nessie is … the Leviathan!"

"The leviathan?" Scooter trembled.

"Stop shivering like an aspen tree, _populum tremula!_" Nevel was a bit annoyed.

Scooter calmed down. "What exactly is the Leviathan?"

"The Leviathan is the giant monster that blocks our way to paradise!" Nevel remarked. "But I will stomp on the head of the beast, as true as I am Nevel Papperman!"

"Will you protect me?" Scooter held Nevel tightly.

"Just don't step into my way, and you will be safe!" Nevel remarked. "I feel that Megan, and only Megan, is the one able to assist me in my fight against the greatest evil that keeps the world going, the Leviathan!"

At the same time, True Jackson and Geena Fabiano talked about fashion. They thought about creating a new style, named the Look Ness. They ignored Ms. Briggs, plain and simple.

Nicole and Dana had been forced to sit next to each other. They had fallen asleep on site, because they weren't interested in the insane talk of Mrs. Briggs.

Now Nicole woke up, and she hoped to sit right next to a cute boy. But she looked around, and saw … "Dana?!" She had hoped to never have to see her former roomie and pest again.

Dana woke up, just to see that her nightmare was about starting. "Nicole?!" She was as consternated as can be. What business did that annoying bimbo wench next to her have?

Quinn and Logan argued over and over. Logan still insisted in the rights of filming the monster of the Caledonian canal, while Quinn insisted that there probably was no such monster, and that the superstition of Loch Ness needed to be examined scientifically. It was symptomatic for their relationship which was completely devoid of love, but filled with annoying divergence and dissent.

Finally, the coach arrived at the head of the peninsula.

* * *

Ms. Briggs grinned. "On bright, sunny days it is possible to see the northern tip of Northern Ireland, also known as Ulster, from here …"

A few clouds were still seen hanging above brine in the far distance, but they seemed to disappear.

"We can see it!" Krissy started talking with her Western Glaswegian accent which was hard to understand, in particular for American kids.

Most of the pupils were astonished when they saw the land across the Irish sea.

Some pupils were just too tired for noticing. They yawned heartily when they left the coach.

Krissy smiled. She had a surprise for the American visitors on store. But before that, she started talking about the infrastructure of the peninsula, and about the traditional life of the fishermen over here. She also mentioned the delicious malt whiskey that was brewed nearby.

All of a sudden, the local folk orchestra approached. "Mrs. Briggs?" the captain of the group addressed the teacher.

Mrs. Briggs nodded.

"It's an honour for us to let you play your bagpipes, right in our midst!" announced the chieftain.

Mrs. Briggs grinned. "Yeah! I knew it!"

Nicole's eyes bugged out. She had yawned all the time, but the cute boys in plaid skirts made her heart beat faster. She swooned with delight. "May I marry a few of them?" she asked Sam Puckett.

"If you want to puke, you should marry Dorkward Benson …" Sam replied.

Finally, Zoey got to see Nicole again. "Nicole!" She beamed.

"Zoey!"Nicole bounced around and cheered.

Ms. Briggs commanded Nicole to shut up.

Krissy coughed. "Anyone here want to sing the ever-famous song _Mull of Kintyre_[[11]] with us?" She looked at all the pupils.

Addie Singer had dragged her guitar around. "Me!" She yelled, albeit a bit timidly.

Also Chase Matthews fessed up. "I don't sing too much, and my guitar is in America, but … the guy who sang it is one of my idols …"

Addie grinned. "Let's share the guitar?"

Chase nodded. "Sure, we may try … who are you anyways?"

Addie grinned. "I'm Addie Singer from Rocky Road High …"

Chase shrugged. "Chase Matthews, Pacific Coast Academy."

The local folk band orchestra started playing.

Ms. Briggs was unbearable, butchering the tune left and right, but Chase and Addie took turns saving it.

* * *

Mull of Kintyre  
The mist rolling in from the sea  
My desire is always to be here  
Mull of Kintyre!

* * *

The pupils started applauding like nobody's business.

* * *

Far have I travelled, lots have I seen,  
Dark distant mountains with valleys of green.  
Past painted deserts the sunsets on fire  
As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre.

* * *

The song went on and on, and the pupils cheered over and over again.

Finally, the last quaver dissipated.

Mr. Briggs erroneously took the applause as her own merit. "Thanks, people!"

Chase and Addie smiled. Then they walked back to their friends Michael and Geena, respectively.

"You've harmonised well!" Michael smiled at Chase. "You should practise more together …"

"Erm …" Chase stammered. "Really?"

"Oh man!" Michael grinned. "Addie and you belong together like me and my clackers!" He took his clacker balls and started clackering in an annoying manner.

Chase looked dumbfounded.

Michael sighed. He had thought for quite some time that Chase and Zoey were going to be the best couple ever. But then there was James Garrett. It might have been some temporary slip, but Zoey was too conscentious to just ignore what had been between James and herself. It might still have gone well, but Michael had spoiled it all, by telling Chase about James and Zoey. The fact that he, and not Zoey, had been the one to inform Chase about James, had broken the neck of the seemingly perfect relationship between Chase and Zoey. That's why Michael felt guilty beyond reason, and, in consequence, he saw it as his holy duty to find a better girl for Chase, because if he had left Chase on his own, he would end up with some annoying, disgusting girl like Rebecca, a lass that Chase had dated in a weak moment when he thought that Zoey was never going to love him back. And Addie was nowhere near like Rebecca.

* * *

The pupils had entered the coach again. Most of them would have loved to rest on Kintyre, but the schedule said something completely different. Their trip took them now past Castle Stirling and the river of Bannockburn, important places for Scottish history. Little wonder, Ms. Briggs had a lot to explain, with very few pupils listening.

Dustin sat again next to Freddie, his fears notwithstanding. He knew from the webshows that Freddie was manically obsessed with Carly and had been turned down over and over again.

Freddie was tempted into doing something very bad to Dustin, like pushing him down some deep hole. But he knew that Carly would have been going to hate him for that.

Nicole had sat next to Zoey. Those two former best friends had to catch up on a lot.

Hence Carly was left with Dana. She was surprised that the webcast was also known in France, right at Dana's school. Paris was one of the places Carly was looking forward to see, once in a while.

Most of the pupils were greatly impressed by their visit to Kintyre, but the journey had to go on. The trip to the North, unto Inverness, was going to be very demanding.

* * *

** Chapter 4. Heart In The Highlands**

* * *

The next day, the pupils boarded the coach in order to move further to the North. Only a few of them, maybe none at all, were looking forward to Mrs. Briggs's incessant bagpipe performance that was awaiting them.

Carly was excited as she decided to sit next to her admirer Dustin. "Is this seat free?"

Dustin nodded silently, feeling his heart beat like a steam-driven sledge hammer.

Carly knew that he was equally excited. She smiled a bit while she sat down. "OK, Dustin, I've talked to your sister, and …"

Dustin was nervous. What had Zoey said to Carly? She had often messed with his crushes. "OK?"

"Zoey was right, there are certainly many fans of mine around the world, and you're not the only one. Also, the boyfriends I watch out for a re usually tall, hot guys," Carly moaned. Alas, those guys had caused a lot of dismay and disappointment. Ben Hoopsher[[12]] had been the first, and then there was Jake Crendle[[13]]. Each of them had left her heartbroken because they were more into busty blondes than into decent girls. Dustin was so totally different. "But I can't simply ignore a nice fan like you."

Dustin smiled with relief. But maybe that was just a nice way to get turned down?

Carly was still excited. "OK, I suggest that you hang out with me and my friends while we are in Scotland …" Carly smiled. "After that, we will see further."

Dustin beamed like a million of lightbulbs, just a lot brighter. "Sure!"

Carly patted Dustin's shoulders.

Mrs. Briggs interrupted the pupils with an announce, "OK, before we stop for a hiking tour in the Crampian mountains, I play you the popular folk tune _My Heart's In The Highlands_"

Dustin and Carly were so close to puking.

"I could do something very bad to Briggs," announced Dustin, "if Zoey hadn't always told me to be nice to teachers."

Alas, Zoey was about revising her opinion. She was sitting next to Lola. Mrs. Briggs was really horrible

"Do you think I should apply as princess Isabelle for the remake of _Braveheart_[[14]] ?"

Zoey sighed. "Do what you want!" She shrugged.

Lola grinned. "I've heard it's getting pretty cold in the highlands. Should I have knit a second vest?"

Zoey didn't care. That bagpipe performance was disgusting. Briggs should have explained something about the Jacobite Risings or so.

"Do you think that Drake would appreciate if I knitted him a new coat?" asked Lola.

"Nobody would appreciate that!" replied Zoey

Lola moaned. Zoey could really spoil all fun!

Nevel had been sitting next to Megan, but they hadn't talked so far. Nevel scrutinised Megan carefully, not in the horny way vulgar boys like Logan do when they check out some girl, but in a very unusual manner. OK, Megan looked a lot like Carly, but that was just physical. And it didn't really matter. A strong, purple aura surrounded Megan. He knew that Megan was very special. She was probably deadly serious when she talked about curses. "Hi Megs!" Nevel grinned.

_Wow, Nevel had really got that deep, soul-stirring gaze!_ Megan was totally fascinated. "Oh, hi, Nevel!"_What a great guy!_

Nevel grinned and swooned.

Sam and Nicole sat behind Nevel and Megan. They complained about Mrs. Briggs like nobody's business.

* * *

The bus halted at a parking site by the braes of the Grampian.

The pupils stepped outside in order to take a walk.

Nicole was excited. "Are we really going to see a few highlanders running about?" Those barbarians were so cute! Should she have told everyone how cute they were? Nicole swooned.

"Shut Up!" commanded Sam brashly.

"Ouch!" Nicole's face cramped. Then she stepped over to Lola and Zoey. "So, did Chase ever tell you that he had an immortal crush on you?"

Zoey moaned. "Somehow, somewhen …" It was so hard to talk about that. Having like cheated on Chase with James still made Zoey feel like a fallen angel, or like the adultress from the gospels. Was Trisha Kirby really such a bad girl, compared to herself?"But I've messed it all up. Now I'm such a wreck that no boy wants to date anymore."

"Ouch!" Nicole had never expected that, For her, Zoey had always been Mrs. Perfect, the most uptight and reliable person. How could she mess that up?

Lola told Nicole about Zoey's trip to London, Chase fessing up and trying to follow, but actually trading places, about James's arrival, Zoey and James dating, the prom night and Chase's return, the moment when Michael denounced Zoey's treason to Chase, and Chase's decision to break with Zoey, not because of her _fauxpas_, but because of having kept it a secret.

Nicole was consternated. Was that really good old Zoey? This was unbelievable! "But hey! There are so many other cute boys!"

Zoey sighed. Random cute boys were for Nicole, they were not exactly what Zoey had ever been looking for. But what had she been looking for? Chase would have been ideal, but she wasn't any longer worthy of him. Chase might have been a dorky bushhead, but he was honourable, and had not cheated on her while he was in England.

Lola wasn't aware of Zoey's mental struggles. She just whistled appreciatively when she thought about Drake as William Wallace, and about herself as his mistress.

Carly talked to Sam for a few minutes, mentioning that Dustin was joining them for a few days.

Freddie and Sam moaned, albeit for different reasons.

Carly also mentioned Trisha Kirby, Dustin's former girlfriend who looked like Sam.

"Trisha is my twin sister!"Oh my dear! Was it really necessary to fess up? This had been her secret for ages! Sam choked after coming out. "Melanie, that's her real name, she had been sent to the PCA by the FBI because …" Sam couldn't talk about it.

Carly and Freddie preferred not to dwell on it. It must have been a hard time for Sam, as evidenced by her efforts to keep Melanie's mere existence a secret.

Dustin had followed them loosely. He was equally consternated. He knew that Trisha wasn't that bad anymore, and that her name had most likely been a fake.

Freddie grumbled when Carly held Dustin's hand playfully.

Sam walked over to Zoey. "You're Dustin's sister?"

Zoey choked. Why was that diabolic girl talking to her? "That's true!"

Sam nodded. "OK, so my twin sister was his first girlfriend. What's wrong with that? Nowadays she isn't half as bad, but I am!" Sam belched.

Zoey shrugged. "She must have stopped being obnoxious. But it's my fault … I've turned from Ms. Perfect into an adulteress, while Trisha went from a sinner to a saint at about the same time. That's what hurts me really!"

Sam didn't give a rat's ass about sinners and saints. "So what? Join the club!" She grinned enigmatically.

Maybe Samantha was right. Once being a fallen girl, was there really a need for trying to appear as the Ms. Perfect that she had been back then? But it didn't seem right. She still felt responsible for Dustin and for her friends, e.g. Quinn and Lola."I wish things were that easy."

"But what makes you feel fallen?" asked Sam.

Zoey told her story about Chase and James.

Sam choked hard. "What a mess! It never happened to me … yet! " Sam was a bit disappointed. It would have been kind of cool, sort of … Two boyfriends at the same time who had no glue about each other, and unsing each of them in order to cheat on the other … this would have had to be paradise! Why, pray tell, did those things always happen to the uptight girls who would feel ashamed about it, and never to scoundrels like herself? She sighed. "I would have enjoyed being in your place."

Zoey coughed. She had not yet sunk that deep. Lola, Quinn, and Dustin needed her, and hence she could not simply shrugg it off as Sam did. Oh, Quinn … they hadn't talked a lot since their arrival in Scotland. But maybe Quinn wasn't such a good friend, anyways. For, which good friend abuses her best friend's little brother in such a shameless manner? And it was all Logan's fault. In order to keep their shameful ship a secret, Quinn and Logan had abused Dustin and Lola, respectively, as fake prom dates. Quinn really deserved being avoided as long as she was addicted to Logan for whom she was just cheap dirt, anyways, a girl he could easily bind to himself by using his money and her sinful need for affection. "OK, Sam, I need to be left alone now!" She moaned.

Mrs. Briggs refrained from playing her bagpipes, but she talked a lot about life in the Scottish mountains during the middle ages and until industrialisation struck that idyllic country.

Megan fumbled with her oboe.

"You may play it?" asked Nevel. Mrs. Briggs's performance of _Heart In The Highland_had been gross, chock awful. Some good music was in order.

Megan smiled and nodded. "How about Verdi's _Requiem_?"

Nevel nodded solemnly. "I so love requiems. They remind us of the futility of life in this world, as everything is doomed and cursed!"

Megan sighed. "Too true!" She started playing.

Nevel relaxed when he listened to Megan playing a song about the pending apocalypse and the narrow boundary between grace and eternal damnation. Wonderful! He swooned with excessive delight. Nevel was going to think about that topic more and more intensely the closer they were approaching the Caledonian canal, lair of the monster of Loch Ness, or, as Nevel called it, the Leviathan. But did Megan understand his thoughts? The next days were going to tell.

Megan was equally looking forward to the encounter with the had to be such a monster. But what exactly was its task? And how were they supposed to overcome it?

Nevel told Megan about his performance as a piano player.

Megan was impressed. Too bad Nevel had not been able to drag his piano to Scotland, they would have made a great oboe-piano team. But maybe when they were coming back to America … If there would ever be such a return!

Logan kept talking Quinn's ears off by boasting with the prospects of holding the filming rights for the monster.

A busty blonde walked up to Logan. "Sorry, you are really the son of Malcolm?" She beamed brightly, and her dress betrayed that her parents hadn't been quite unwealthy, either.

Logan nodded. "I am!"

"Maris Bingham!" said the girl.

Logan's eyed bugged out. "From Bingham Enterprises Unlimited?"

Maris nodded. "Yeah! It's really impressive that you are making a movie about the monster. I hope you show it when it devours Addie Singer and her foul friend Geena Fabiano!" Her grin was sadistic. "And what could give you more money than a movie documenting the existence of some legendary monster! Nessy, Bigfoot, the Yeti, you name it! And money is all that counts, isn't it?"

"The more, the merrier!" Logan beamed. Finally, there was someone who understood what was most imporant in life.

Quinn notice that Maris rubbed her forms subtly against Logan's muscular body. She almost exploded for jealousy, but she remained silent. She knew that Logan was a magnet for girls. But that didn't mean that Logan could cheat with that Maris girl on her! She took her wrist watch with built-in laser zappers[[15]] and fired away at Maris.

Nevel stepped up to Quinn. "Logan isn't worth it, trust me!" Quinn might just have thought of him as one of her step-cousins, but they were indeed more than that: Half-siblings. And no good brother would let his beloved sister waste her life on a worthless jerk. Quinn had to be saved from her pending doom, but how?

Quinn just pouted and walked away. Nevel was really dary. What gave him the authority to talk to her like that? But maybe she should calm down. Her jealousy had already sent her astray when she still was with her ex-boyfriend Del Figgalo. Quinn sighed and relaxed.

Dana stumbled into Nicole. "Get out of my way!"

"It ain't just your way!" replied Nicole. "And I have to watch out for cute Highland boys, with kilts and stuff!" She beamed. "And I need to look OK when they cross our way!"

"You won't look OK after I've polished your face!" threatened Dana in a downright brash manner.

Nicole shrieked with terror and fled into Zoey's direction, begging for shelter.

Dana stared at Zoey and Nicole, spotting hitherto unknown Lola. Who was that girl? She seemed to be a good friend of Nicole. Quinn, and Zoey. But was she to be trusted? Hardly!

True and Geena had been talking about highland fashion. They knew that this was going to be quite some change.

Geena knew Maris from her school. They were worst enemies. And Maris's mother owned a factory for fashion. Maris was so arrogant, and she was probably going and try to use her connection in order to destroy Geena's and True's venture on site, as soon as she figured about the plans. What to do?

Michael had urged Chase to talk to Addie, again. Either that, or forgive Zoey her reckless dishonesty.

Chase knew that Addie was nice, but he was too much of a chicken to advance any further. What if Addie had already got a boyfriend, or fiancé? He trembled with agony. Was this just moving from a spark to a flame?

It was a tiring day, and the kids were going to fall fast asleep, but many other adventures were still awaiting them in the Highlands and Lowlands.

* * *

** Chapter 5. Aberdeen**

* * *

The Grampian mountains had offered our friends some insight into the transformation of traditional highland idyll into a modern battlefield between economy and nature, where, on the long run, economy was going to prevail, but at what price?

Nicole Bristow was bitterly disappointed because she had hoped to see many a kilt-wearing champion, of course one of the cute sort, but those had become exceptionally rare.

Aberdeen, or, as the Gaelic-speaking highlanders used to call it, Obar-Dheathain, was the field trip's last station before reaching the Caledonian Canal. A trip to the islands off the Aberdonian shore had to be cancelled, because the wheather was not as smooth as expected. Great Britain, including Scotland, did not offer a trip from coast to coast as long as the United States of America, or Canada, did. This meant that gales from either direction were rather strong, and mist was thick and tough. The mountains were better off than the coastal cities when considering the mist, but the wind had gone through and through. Aberdeen had changed a lot. Fishing and - originally rather extensive - agriculture have turned less and less important, compared to the overwhelming impact of the oil industry. Aberdeen had also been a great producer and retailer of textiles, but this was all but history.

* * *

The pupils had entered their rooms in a cross between boarding school and youth hostelet, run by some local religious group.

The dormitory rooms were much less spacy than at the PCA, like eight kids in a room.

Zoey shared her dorm with Nicole, Lola, Quinn, Dana, Geena, Addie, and some Jenifer Mosely.

Quinn was upset because Logan was still talking about how much money he was going to make with Nessy. "But it is scientific nonsense!"

Zoey shrugged. "Was Charles Gallaway scientific nonsense?"

Quinn glared brashly at Zoey. Did Zoey have to make such a fuss about that topic? The spectral revenant had been the worst day in Quinn's life, as it had shaken her scientific perspectives beyond any reason. And if Nessie was as real as the revenant, it was better to run and take cover, not to risk your life for a cheap Hollywood dream!

Lola smiled. "Dunno, I don't mind being eaten by the monster, if I make it into TV this way!"

"Is it a cute monster," wondered Nicole.

Dana turned grumpy. "I'm going to hit you in the cute!"

Nicole pouted.

Lola smiled. "I guess I'm going practise my scream for the moment when Nessie merges from the bottom of the lake." She started screaming.

Zoey and Quinn urged Lola to shut up.

Quinn sighed. "It also abhors me how that Maris girl sneaks up to Logan. Pure blond venom!"

Zoey shrugged. "Believe me, Quinn! Logan is really into busty blondes, and you're just some sort of wayside rest."

Addie chuckled. "Wayside rest!" It was so funny that Zoey used that term while they were on a field trip, stationed in some hostel. She took her guitar, and she played some tune, just in order to make her roomies relax.

Jenifer yawned.

Geena looked at some designs she had carried around. "OK, Zoey, this is mine and True's first draft of Look Ness. You're an expert for fashion design, right?"

Zoey shrugged humbly. "I enjoy it, but I'm not very professional, I stick to rather classical patterns even though they run out of demand. I don't try to be trendy, but stay to stay true to my style."

Geena chuckled. "True!" She choked. "Sorry!"

Zoey laughed. "Yeah, I didn't want to invoke Ms. Jackson's first name in vain." She took a look at Geena's cuts. "OK, I think it isn't bad, but, as I said, I'm not risking too much. The only exceptions are certain accessories that … well, some freak in Seattle seems buying them madly."

Quinn nodded. "His name is Spencer. One of my second cousins is a big pal of him. He calls him Socko, because he likes Zoey's multicoloured socks to which I've added the illumination. Stupid nick!"

Zoey choked. Spencer? Seattle? That sounded like … Spencer Shay, as in Carly's adult brother? Shiver!

Jenifer chuckled. "I'm a woodshop major, because I love wood and geometry," explained Jenifer, "and my teacher, Mr. Chopsaw, has got a friend named Harry Joyner[[16]] . And Joyner's best disciple is some Spencer Shay from Seattle. I wouldn't remember, unless Chopsaw had talked about Spencer's socks and ties and …" She chuckled insanely.

Zoey choked. Was her little brother about dating the little sister of her best yet hitherto anonymous customer? It looked as if he did. That was so … scary, even more scary than the monster of the lake.

Addie sang some more.

* * *

.  
Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care  
Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care  
Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care  
Old massa's gone away!

* * *

Alas, Zoey did care. She needed to distract herself. "Addie, you seem to get along pretty well with my ex-boyfriend, Chase Bartholomew Matthews …"

Addie nodded. "He said it's all over between the two of you."

Zoey nodded. "It's OK, I'm not a jealous ex-girlfriend or so. I appreciate that he finds someone nice that fast." She sighed. "As opposed to that little wretch that I've turned into."

Mose and Addie hugged Zoey in comfort.

* * *

Megan and Carly shared another dorm.

Megan practised with her oboe.

"How may you like that Nevel freak," Carly wondered with disgust.

Megan could not answer. She kept on playing a strange, mysterious tune.

Carly shook her head. "You think you may lure the monster of the lake with your oboe?" She sighed when Megan refused to answer.

Nevel walked into the room.

Carly was annoyed. "Who allowed you to …"

Nevel glared grimly at Carly. "Stay out of my way, and nothing will happen to you when I stomp on the head of the monster.[[17]] I don't hate you, I hate him who seduced you!"

Carly scratched her head. "What?" Nevel was so insane!

"The Leviathan," explained Nevel, "the embodiment of the sins of mankind that keeps us from reentering the paradise."

Carly donned her G.O. Some good music was in order. Listening to Nevel's insane blathering made no sense, and Megan's obo music … gag! And how was a little boy like Nevel supposed to stomp on the head of a giant sea dragon, as that seamed what Nevel and Megan believed Nessy to be?

Neve kissed Megan's cheek. "That was wonderful, sweetie!"

Megan was just done practising. "Thanks! This and the devil's accord will certainly lure the leviathan from the depths of the loch. I just hope that you know what you're doing when Nessie shows up!"

* * *

Dustin was afraid of the monster. He hid under his blanket.

"It's absurd!" Freddie shook his head. "All the reports about such a monster are blatant nonsense, such as bigfoot or Consuela[[18]] or Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer."

They all say that, but they just had been lucky not to encounter such a bestialic monster. Dustin sighed with despair. Even squirrels and goldfish were a hell of dangerous, and that monster was probably alot worse …

Freddie grumbled. There was no scientific proof for Nessie. OK, a giant reptile of that size would have been horrific, but it would have needed a scientific explanation, not some faerie tale or mythic superstition.

Logan Reese bounded in, followed by Maris Bingham. His mouth was stained with Maris's lip gloss.

Dustin glared grimly at Logan Reese who had abused him shamelessly, just a few months ago. [[19]]

Logan chuckled arrogantly. "OK, my fiancé Quinn refuses to lend me her improved telescope for making a monumental movie about the monster of the Loch Mess."

"Loch Ness," corrected Dustin.

Logan replied brashly: "I pay for the whole movie, I get to name the loch whatever wat I want to!"

Dustin shrugged.

Freddie sighed. "First, there is no monster, second, my webcam is not suited for shooting movies."

Logan shrugged with disgust, and he left again.

"Didn't he want to order a cam team from his dad, anyways," wondered Dustin. "Reese productions has got a headquarter near London, they would be here with a team with a few hours, using a heli."

Freddie nodded solemnly.

Nevel bounded in. "The day of dystopia is in front of the door!"

Freddie turned grumpy. Dystopia, dystopia, dystopia, that really seemed to be Nevel's favourite word. He probably didn't know any other word than that.

Dustin trembled.

Nevel moaned. "As I said to carly, so I say unto you: Nothing will happen to you unless ypu stand in my way, and Megan's."

Dustin shrugged. "Freddie, do you feel I'm trying to steal Carly from you? I mean, we're just hanging out for a bit, it will be a hell of a wonder if we're able to stay together after the field trip, when I return to the PCA, and you and carly return to Seattle."

Freddie sighed. "If someone steals Carly from me, it's my very self. I've messed it all up by being so all-obsessive. Carly doesn't really like that, and I should have known."

Dustin asked: "So you don't wish the monster to eat me?"

Freddie chuckled. "There's only one ferocious monster we will meet there: Samantha Puckett!"

Dustin choked. "Do you want to know what we fans of your show think about you and Sam?"

Freddie coughed. "What?"

Dustin nodded. "We're running bets. I'm too shy to participate in a bet, because my secret feelings for Carly have prevented me."

Freddie shrugged. "Good for you. But what are those bets about?"

"The usual stuff," replied Dustin. "Whom will Freddie kiss first, and when? Carly or Sam?"

Freddie stomped his feet. "What are the odds? The stakes?"

The stakes are smoothies and doughnuts for all. The odds were 90 to 10 for carly when the show started, but now they went to fifty-fifty.

Freddie choked. "I will never, nevr, never start anything with sam. Have you heard? Never! Not until dystopia!"

Dustin trembled. "Aw, _Never_ is such a strong word."

Freddie glared into the empty space that he imagined out there.

Scooter walked in. "Look, I've found a costume of Nessie!" He wore the costume around his torso. Now he donned the hood.

Freddie shook his head. "How stupid!"

Dustin trembled even more. He had no clue concerning what Nessie shoudl look like, but he knew that it was terrible.

"Don't invoke the picture of the leviathan in vain," admonished Nevel sternly.

Dustin trembled even more. He knew that Carly was afraid, too. Who was going to protect them?

* * *

** Chapter 6. Inverness**

* * *

Finally, the group reached Inverness, the Northeatsern end of the so-called Caledonian Canal who split the Northwestern highlands from the bloody rest of Scotland.

The canal connects a sequence of natural lakes, replacing somewhat the barely navigable rivers that join them naturally.

Inverness itself was another epitome of the changes. Former stronghold of whiskey production is now a centre of medic industry and health science. The city is probably still in rapid growth.

Carly had so far been disappointed when she looked in Scotland, especially that far up here, for highland idyllics. She was afraid of the monster, but, on the other hand, she would have been disappointed if they had made all the way up there without encountering a trace of Nessy.

Sam didn't mind. As long as there was something edible in sight, she was happy to reach out for it. "Do you know what's sea monster's favourite meal? … Fish and Ships!" Sam was somewhat addicted to fish and chips, although she did not understand why the British people call their French fries chips. "They are obviously gaga!" Sam gestured wildly at bypassing people.

Freddie didn't believe in the monster, but he had prepared his cam, just in case. "It would be nice to film some dilettantic attempts, or, even more, some more professional ones, of fake lake monsters, and to represent them in our next web cast, upon our return to Seattle." Alas, he would not have minded saving Carly from a whatever fake sea monster, maybe making her change her mind and choose him, instead of Dustin Brooks.

But before the crew reached Loch Ness, they stopped by Culloden Moor, the location of the final battle of the Jacobite Rising.

Mrs. Briggs talked about not only the davastating battle, but also the consequences. The traditional clan system almost ceased to exist afterwards. "There had been many refugeees. Many American and Canadian families, including my own, owe their origins to that battle."

Nicole cheered. "I love refugees! They are cute, aren't they?"

Zoey shook her head, and explained unto Nicole.

Nicole pouted. "Ouch!"

Dana just shrugged. "Wimps!"

Mr. Briggs remarked that many clansmen were just armed with agricultural tools, byt, in the end, they could not withstand the brown bess.

Nicole screamed with delight. "Wow! That must be one heck of a woman, that brown Bess, if no man may resist her!" She jumped up and down with extreme excitement. "I so want to be like the brown Bess! Don't you want to be like her, too, Zoey? Tell me how much you want to be like Bess!"

Zoey's head almost exploded. Nicole could be so embarassingly annoying! If you had a friend like Nicole, you didn't need any enemy anymore! "Nicole, the Brown Bess is was the main firearm of the English army during that time. It's a brand of guns, not a woman!"

Nicole coughed and spit. "Nooooo! I don't want to be a gun."

Zoey shook her head.

Quinn was a bit more precise. "The Brown Bess was a flintlock musket."

Nicole dared once more to claim that flintlocks were cute, without having the slightest clue what she was talking about.

Quinn explained a few technical details: "In a flintlock gun, a spring-driven hammer, named a cock, drives a piece of flint, which it holds in its beak, against a steel frizzen, scraping sparks off it. The frizzen also serves as part of a lid for the flash pan. Upon the impact of the cock, the lid flips open, and the sparks penetrate the flash pan, hopefully igniting the priming powder inside the pan. The resulting flash in the pan, in turn, should ignite the powder in the heck of the musket's barrel."

Zoey was not interested in listening to Quinn's explanations about the famous flash in the pan.

Nicole squealed. "Muskets? As in the _Three Musketeers_? I love that movie! The musketeers were cute, oh sooooo cute! Especially D'Artagnan, he was the cutest of all. Don't you also think that D'Artagnan was incredibly cute? Tell me how cute he was! I wish that I had his cell number, so I could call him every now and then!"

Zoey grumbled. "D'Artagnan, if he had ever lived, would be dad by almost 300 years by now!"

Nicole almost puked. "Ouch! Not so cute!"

Logan was busy using his cellular, which was a British B-phone, in order to command various troops of his father's movie team to Inverness. "I have just secured the exclusive filming rights for the monster of Loch Ness. Only 14 M bucks! And then I will buy Culloden Moor, for a reconstruction of the historical battle. I mean, if so many people in America had ancestors from this battle, they will certainly pay a nice talon of bucks and bills in order to see the movie, won't they?"

Maris beamed proudly. "That's cool, Logs!" She dreamt of the money, fame, and publicity that were connected to being seen in a movie with the infamous monster of Loch Ness, and the battle of Culloden. "Maybe they are somewhat connected? The monster may be here in order to get revenge for the lost battle?"

Zoey remembered badly when Logan had insisted in digging out the tomb of Charles Galloway, who had fled from some sort of battlefield, the classes of some particularly mean teacher named Mr. Hotchins. "That guy will be our doom!"

Nicole beamed. "Yeah! I knew it! Dooms are cute! Tell me how cute they are!"

Zoey grunted vigorously.

Nevel, on the other hand, plastered a poker face.

Megan chuckled mischievously, the more the closer they approached the Caledonian canal.

Carly would have liked to know what her doppelganger was up to. Apparently not to much good … maybe Megan was a much worse monster than the dragon of Loch Ness. Must must have been, for, who else would associate with someone as mean as Nevel Papperman?

Nevel and Megan started talking about music.

Megan had announced to be able to conjure the monster from the depth of the lake with the sounds of her oboe.

* * *

The weather was not that great, and fog crept rolling in from the sea.

For that avail, Mrs. Briggs had decided to move into the hostel, and to take a guided tour through one of the greatest health reseacrh centres of Inverness, before continuing the trip to the canal.

Logan was disappointed when he entered the hostel. "Do you know how much it costs letting the movie team wait?"

Zoey shrugged. "Nobody asked you to call them."

Logan grunted. "We need a prove that the monster exists, and if we can make a movie of it, we will beat anything that has ever been on the market. And dad will give me the whole heritage right on site, for my brilliant idea."

Maris smiled sweetly.

Quinn shook her head. "There must be a scientific explanation for all the sightings of …"

Logan shook his head. "Who cares about science? Money is all that counts!"

Zoey had to separate the fake lovers. yeah, Logan was better off with an icredibly dumb blonde like Maris!

Nicole shrugged. "OK, Zoey, let's take a dorm together, won't we? I still have to tell you a lot about cute boys."

Zoey accepted grudgingly, as Nicole's insensate dumb talk was no longer to bear.

Quinn was one of the few pupils who were looking forward to visiting the institute for health science.

The only one sharing her endavour was some Simon Nelson Cooke whom she had never heard of before.

Quinn wondered about Simon's appearance. Wowe, he really looks like … half machinery, half man.

Cookie grinned. "I'm a cyborg!"

Quinn shrugged. "Oh, really?"

Cookie nodded. "I consist of 20 per cent technology … look at all these wires and batteries!"

Quinn was astonished. "So, what do you think about the monster of Loch Ness?"

Cookie pushed a few buttons. "Click … OK, I come to the conclusion that there are 2,3 % evidence for, 97,7% evidence against the existence of the monster of Loch Ness!"

Quinn smiled. "Cool! I wish I could do that! I mean, I have got several laptops and palms, I have even invented my own operational system, it is called Quinndoze QP …"

Cookie smiled. "Hey, my pant computer runs on Quinndoze QP."

Quinn grinned. "That's great! Maybe we may do some research together? There are lots of things to discover … esperially in the sector of health science and biotechnology!"

Simon Nelson Cooke agreed wholeheartedly. "My dream is that every part of the human body become subbable with modern technology."

Quinn smiled. "I've already improved laser surgery[[20]], invented hair growth accelerators[[21]], brain monitors[[22]], I know how to neutralise brain activity completely for a short time [[23]], I have researched the important field of sleep withdrawal [[24]], and on and on and on it goes … " She listed her major achievements in the field of biotechnology.

While admiring Quinn's progress, Cookie listed his own achievements.

Zoey sighed. "It seems that Quinn is over her disappointment with Logan, kind of, sort of … and that went incredibly fast!"

Lola nodded solemnly. "By the way, I've received an SMS from Drake Parker! It seems that he will give a concert in Glasgow before we have to leave Scotland again!"

Zoey shrugged. "OK, not even I do mind visiting one of Drake's concerts."

Nicole beamed. "Drake is cute, incredibly cute! Maybe I should marry him!"

Lola moaned with jealousy.

Zoey remarked that Nicole had scared Drake a bit with her nymphomania when he had given a concert at the PCA[[25]].

Lola coughed. "Drake gave a concert at the PCA, and you did not inform me?" She jumped at Zoey's throat, menacing wildly. In addition, she grunted at Nicole with excessive jealousy.

Zoey explained that the concert took place before Lola arrived at the PCA. "We could not know that you were enrolling at our school the year after!"

Lola growled, but she knew that she should have stayed quiet.

Finally, the kids had built groups for the dormitory halls.

As exciting as the visit to the centre for health research was going to be for Quinn and Cookie, it was absolutely nothing in comparison to the suspense that the question concerning the monster of Loch Ness caused unto the vast majority of the pupils.

Ms. Briggs, in turn, stayed in the foyer of the hostel, playing _When The Camerons Come_ on her set of bagpipes.

Some passerby pitied Mrs. Briggs, and he threw some rusty British coin into her bag.

The hour of truth was getting closer and closer …

* * *

** Chapter 7. The Beast**

* * *

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.

Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"

* * *

-Book of Revelations 13:1-4

* * *

Finally, the kids, guided by Francine Briggs and Krissy, reached riverside of Ness.

Mrs. Briggs grinned. "Time for a picnic, whereafter I will play my latest work, a medley of the collected poems of Rabbie Burns."

Carly nmoned. "The onlly way I could bear that is after having drunk six bottles of Scotch Whiskey!"

Dustin nodded wholeheartedly.

Nevel and Megan had apparently other plans.

Nevel sighed. "You know, sweets, I could not drag a whole piano from Seattle to Inverness, but…"

Megan was excited.

Nevel was a bit embarassed. "Besides the piano, I may also play the recorder[[26]] so … I've bought this plastic recorder at Heathrow. It can't hold a candle to your Royal Smith oboe, so I'm deeply ashamed."

Megan shrugged. "Hey!" She hugged Nevel tenderly. "See, it doesn't matter all that much, as long as you play with the aappropriate mindset and feelings."

Nevel smiled. "Thanks, candymouse." He kissed Megan's cheeks.

Megan returned Nevel's kiss in kind.

Carly came to see that. "That's gross!" She threw up on site.

Dustin sighed. "Sorry, Carly! And now I've lost all my hunger. I can't eat if your feeling bad."

Sam grinned. "OK, if the two of you can't eat, I may have your rations, right?" She grabbed Dustin's sandwich before he could answer, and stuffed it down her throat.

Zoey was upset about Sam's rude demeanour, but she smiled at Carly. They were really a cute couple, Dustin's younger age and lesser size notwithstanding.

Nicole squealed. "Yeah, they are cute! Oh, how is my hair? I don't want to face the cute monster with curly hair."

Dana shrugged. "Your hair won't be cute after I've torn a few strands of it!" She threatened her former roomie, looking sternly.

"Ouch!" Nicole sighed with despair. Truley spoken, Dana was the only monster Nicole had ever met in her life, a mix between a dragon and a fury.

Nevel looked at Megan. "Time to act…"

Megan nodded. "The tidings are clear…" She unpacked her Royal Smith.

Nevel put the duct hole of his fipple flute to his lips, after breathing violently. He closed his eyes, concentrating on an ancient tune.

Megan beamed. Oh yeah, someone as virtuous and charismatic like Nevel may even use a plastic recorder in order to express magics by means of music. She started blowing her oboe.

Inspite of not yet having practised together, Nevel's and megan's performances grew naturally into one demonstration of spherical sounds.

Many pupils stood in awe.

Mrs, Briggs was upset, because nobody had ever paid as much attention to her command of the bagpipes, although she had been practising for over a dozen of years, than to the woodwind duo of Megan and Nevel. She stomped her feet with disgust.

Carly almost thought that Nevel's performance was cool.

Dustin smiled.

Alas, both Dustin Carly were a bit scared by the subtlety of Nevel's deed. They knew that he was up to something big.

Nevel stopped playing, followed by Megan. Then he spoke a few words in far ancient tongue.

In an attempt of providing protection, Zoey stepped instinctively in front of Dustin, sensing that something scary was awaiting.

Envious Mrs. Briggs used the moment of silence, starting to blow her bagpipes. She stood with her back to the shore when she played some tune.

Suddenly, there were movements in the water.

Something big started to emerge from the glooming brine.

The attention of several pupils was now taken by the events behind Mrs. Briggs's back.

The teacher smiled, enjoying that she started to get some attention. Hadn't it taken her many years to be able to fascinate live public in such a way?

Logan jumped up. He walked up to his beloved Maris Bingham. "Hottie," he whispered into her ears. "I think the moment is there. Let me call the production team, and let the gazillions of bucks flow!"

Maris kissed Logan tenderly. "Of course!"

Logan took his cellular phone, directing his team.

Dustin and Carly started trembling when the eyes of something huge appeared in the murky waters.

Quinn and Cookie had been talking about the things they had seen in the research centre.

Quinn boasted with her own achievements on that sector.

Cookie was sure that they could teach a lot unto the people at the centre. But what was that? He pointed at the beast. which appeared to be horned.

In her mind, Quinn went through the zoological encyclopaedia which she had learnt by heart, like ten years ago.

Cookie fed the data of his observations to his built-in microcomputer.

Neither of them were, so far, able to come to a result, thus they aggreed on the necessity of fetching some sample DNA from the beast, in order to narrow down their search.

Freddie sighed. "Sam, give it up, you can't fool me with your costume!"

Carly would have loved to swallow that explanation, but the veritable Sam was standing right next to Freddie. "Freddie, I don't think that it's Sam who emerges from the depths of the sea…"

Freddie grunted. "There is no monster, bear with it. Stop fooling me, Sam," thundered he into Sam's face.

Sam grimaced.

Freddie gasped. "Sam?" He looked at his blond-headed friend, and at the beast that was just about raising its head above the water surface. Then he screemed with terror.

Sam stayed calm. "I could swallow a whole monster. Now give me your webcam, dorkweird!" She shrugged, and she took the tool from reluctant Freddie.

Carly and Dustin trembled with dismay.

Sam grunted. "Calm down! I'm going to push Fredward between the teeth of the beast, then it will be convinced that we don't taste good, and run away."

Mrs. Briggs, still unaware of anything happening behind her back, smiled when she noticed a swarm of helicopters from Malcolm Reese Productions. "Hollywood, here comes Mrs. Briggs!" She cheered enthusiastically. Finally, she was going to obtain all the attention that she had truly deserved. A new movie star was born!

LOla smiled. "Zoey, do you thin my make-up is OK for the cameras? Alaso, I don't want to appear sweaty, in front of billions of viewers!"

Zoey coughed. "Yeah, probably!" That was incredible. An undefinable creature was about threatening them to the death, and Lola only worried about her appearance on the screen.

Malcolm Reese caught a megaphone that had been para-dropped by one of his helicopters. He started yelling instructions. "OK, guys, whatever happens, I've secured the exclusive filming rights for this event!"

Incited by her apparent "success", Mrs. Briggs decided to perform another folk tune. She smiled brightly. It was going to be the greatest day in her life.

Quinn and Cookie had still not decided how to approach the unidentifiable creature in order to snatch a sample of DNA.

Dustin asked Zoey whether the monster was able to spew fire.

Zoey was too excited to talk.

Sam remarked that, as Nessie was a marine monster, it was unlikely to breathe fire, for water and fire don't go well together.

Nicole was disappointed. "The monster isn't cute!"

Dana grunted. "It took you that much to notice?"

The monster, whose throat was now showing, blew a torrent of acid into the air, barely missing a helicopter that had approached it too fast.

Merciless Logan commanded his flying team to move even closer.

Carly's and Dustin's teeth were shattering.

Maris sighed. "Too bad only head and throat are visible."

Logan was equally disappointed. "We need to wait until we see a lot more of the beast, so we will present the full contrast between the beauty, that is you, and the beast!"

Maris smiled sweetly at Logan.

Krissy tried to get everyone to hide and run, but many pupils were too oblivious of the danger, or they were paralysed and unable to do zilch..

Nevel decided that he needed to do something. "Megan, it's time to…"

Megan nodded sadly. "True, sweetie!"

Nevel walked up to the shore. He yelled unto Nessie. "Look, leviathan of the depths! It's me whom you want!"

Carly remarked that Nevel was insane. "A little boy against a giant beast!"

Nevel chanted in a scary and mysterious manner.

Megan backed him up with some new tune.

Dustin still did not understand how Nevel wanted to _stomp on the beast's head_.

Megan urged the other pupils to stay out of Nevel's way.

Nessie blew more acid at Nevel.

Alas, Megan's tune appeared to have surrounded Nevel with some protective glow.

Chase and Addie had taken cover.

Chase went "Phew! That was close!"

Nevel fired a bolt of lightning at Nessie, making it twitch.

A wave wiped the shore, almost seizing Nevel.

Chase and Addie decided to try to support Nevel with some music, as Megan did. They strummed their guitar, hoping to be able to play an appropriate tune.

Alas, their attempt was just incredibly weak.

The struggle between Nevel and the monstrous creature went on and on.

Logan smiled. "That movie will beat the records!"

Maris nodded. "Let's hope that the struggle lasts long enough for a real Hollywood movie."

Logan agreed wholeheartedly.

Megan needed to invest more and more efforts to shield Nevel with the magics of her oboe's performance.

Sam was busy taking pictures of the event.

Freddie urged Sam not to get too close to the combat, as it was his most expensive webcam.

One helicopter, who, upon Logan's reckless commands, came too close to the creature, was seized by the horns of the beast, and flung some hundred yards away, ending up on a rock.

Megan approached Nevel. "Darling, I fear we can't proceed. We are too weak, because the sins and greed of the onlookers drains our morale."

Nevel sighed sadly. "Too true. With a company like that, we don't even need enemies. They are no support, just a stumbling block."

But were they able to back away from the combat, now that they had started it?

Megan shielded Nevel once more, allowing him to chant some other verses.

Nessie was fumbling wildly.

Sam was sure that Nessie had not even aimed at either Nevel or the helicopter, the monster just had fumbled around wildly.

Mrs. Briggs smiled once more at one of the remaining helicopters.

All of a sudden, the head of the monster started to disappear in the water, at the same speed as it had emerged fromm the brine.

Megan sighed with relief. She knew that they had been a hell of lucky that they were apparently able to back away in time.

Logan was disappointed when it was turning out that their was obviously not going to be enough material for a whole movie.

A last bubbling appeared in the brine, and the monster was gone.

Nevel wiped the sweat from his face. "That was close!"

Megan nodded. "Woe to you who take anything home from this site! A curse will hit you, haunting you until the times of dystopia!"

The helicopters were done.

Lola smiled. "I think I was good! Don't you think so, Zoey?"

Zoey grunted.

Logan told his team to bring the material to Los Angeles. "Let's see what we can save from it!"

Nevel grunted. "Haven't I been clear enough? Don't take anything from here, or face your doom!"

Logan laughed tauntingly. "The dwarf wants to threaten me!"

Quinn and Cookie were intimidated. "Maybe we should stop looking for stray DNA of the creature. I've learnt from the incident of Charles Galloway…"

Cookie trusted his new girlfriend's instincts.

Zoey tried to remember the locket of Charles Galloway to Logan, but she was not sure whether the jerk of jerks had learnt from that incident, and was paying attention to the warnings.

Mrs. Briggs sighed. "That was all? Damn', I should have played another tune instead." She sobbed sadly.

In any case, the group of pupils was finally bound southwards, again.

But was it really all over?

* * *

** Chapter 8. Back To The South**

* * *

The buses were taking the pupils on to Dundee, or, as the Gaels say, Dun Deagh.

Funnily, Mrs. Briggs was still wanting of any clue concerning the events at the loch behind her back, and she was stinky because the Hollywood team had ignored her. She was now detrmined to take her creeping frustration out on the pupils, playing even more tunes.

Fortunately, the pupils had developed strategies to bypass Mrs. Briggs' evil ateempts upon their fun and sanity.

Cookie and Quinn had developed eartaps that transformed backpipe music technologically into rock and pop.

Carly and Dustin smiled when they relaxed in their seats. "It almost sounds like Drake Parker!"

Lola beamed in anticipation of Drake's concert in Glasgow. \quot{I hope I look very cool on the pictures that Malcolm Reese's TV helis have taken…

Zoey was dismayed, "Lola? I can't believe it. Don't you remember Charles Galloway?"

Lola nodded. "We should have made a movie of it. That was incredibly cool. I would have been seen by millions of people!"

Zoey glared with horror. "Are you insane/"

Lola looked dumbfounded. "Isn't it cool being seen by everyone?"

Zoey grumbled "Sure, if you can make it out it alive and sane…"

Lola grunted. "You just envy me for the Oscar that I'm going to be awarded with soon."

Zoey coughed. "That's so wrong!" She switched places with Nicole, for Lola was now impossible to bear.

Freddie smiled. "The pictures of Nessie will make our webcast jump to the tops, no webshow has ever been available to show them!"

Sam grinned. "Pictures of you getting eaten by Nessie would have been a lot more fun!"

Freddie glared at Sam.

Sam shrugged. "So what? We may be content with what we have."

Freddie nodded. "OK. I hope that Carly lets us show it. She's superstitious enough to believe that the monster was real."

Sam agreed. "She also believes in a curse connected to pictures of the 'monster'."

Freddie coughed. "There's no such thing as curses, maledictions, bad omens…"

Sam was of Freddie's opinion. "The monster was impossibly real. It looked like a mix between aunt Maggie and uncle George."

Freddie could easily imagine that. Sam's relatives were the probably the closes thing to real monsters conceivable by mankind, and Sam was not too far away from them…

Logan was sad. "It could have been such a great movie…"

Maris nodded mournfully. "Yeah, and suddenly it was all over… and we are left with ten thousands of lost bucks, if not more."

Logan sighed. "Dad will hate me for wasting that much of a bidget without any decent result."

Fortunately, Maris had got another idea. "Wait, sweetie, isn't it possible to complete movies with technological tricks, such anonymisation?"

Logan scratched his head. "Wasn't it anomalisation? Whatever, I've already heard of it…"

Maris shrugged. "We need some expert for media technology, such as that little tech producer of a web show…"

Logan scratched his chin. "Oh yeah, wasn't it that Fatwart Benson, or something similar?"

Maris grinned. "Probably. I guess he may save the movie…"

Logan nodded solemnly. "We need to give it a try!"

Geena and True had been very much inspired. They finally knew what their new Look Ness was going to look like. "It's not going to ba a Look Mess, as Maris must have hoped it to be!" They chuckled insanely.

After all, Nevel was still exhausted. "We were so close…"

Megan nodded solemnly. "If we hadn't come with a pack of ignorants and boobs…"

Nevel grinned. "One day, we will come back, and then we will stomp on the head of the beast."

Megan smiled.

* * *

After lunch, many of the pupils met in the foyer of the hostel.

Some of them asked Logan with which trick he had animated the monster.

Too bad Logan was not behind the monster, but he wished he had been, so he could brag with it… Hey! Why not just pretend, and brag with it anyways?

Logan smiled. "Yeah, it is a new trick that will revolutionaise Hollywoos. But for the technical details, you have to ask…"

Maris smiled. "Freddie Benson is da man!"

Logan coughed, as he had not yet asked Freddie, but he was sure that nobody could resist his generous monetary offers.

At the same time, Carly asked Freddie to destroy the pictures of the monster, and Nevel's battle with it.

Freddie choked. "Are you insane? It is the cornerstone of my vcareer as a future Hollywood tech producer!"

Carly was upset. "Can't you think about anything but a stupid career? There's a curse attached to them! Nevel said so…"

Freddie was consternated.

Sam shared Freddie's opinion. "You listen to Nevel?"

Carly sighed. "I wish I wouldn't have to, but he's a real expert for curses, maledictions, omens, and dystopia."

Freddie and Sam glared aghast.

Freddie thundered "There is no such thing as curses, maledictions, and monsters!"

Carly grumbled. "You've taken pictures of one, and you still deny it?"

Sam chuckled mercilessly.

Freddie remarked that it was all a technological trick by…

Sam nodded vigorously.

Carly scoffed. "Forget it!" She walked away, disappointed because her formerly best friends did not take her objections to be serious.

Dustin accompanied Freddie.

Logan approached Freddie. "Mr. Benson, I've heard you're a gifted technological producer…"

Fredward nodded. "Yeah, that's me?"

Logan smiled. "As you've seen, the shooting of the movie could not be completed appropriately. Would you please help me complete the film, using anomalisation, as a paid internship?"

Freddie's heart beat at triple speed. "Yeah? Yeah? Yeah!" A dream had just come true for Freddie! He jumped up, and he started dancing as if hearing a tune. "But it's called animation!"

Sam grunted. That was impossible, Freddie actually made it somewhere. But, hey, a good job meant lots of money, lots of money meant lots of ham. "May I assist him? I'm a cerealified MPEG expert!"

Freddie grunted. "Certified!"

Sam shrugged. "Whatever…"

Maris did not knoow what an MPEG was. "Is it something to eat?"

Sam grinned. "I wish… oh, it's already one our since dinner, I need to loot some fridge…"

Logan smiled. "OK, I've heard that there is something like that, and it has to do with cpmputer and film technology, but I think that's OK, you are employed, both of you, for completing the film by means of analisation, or whatever you call it."

Sam and Freddie beamed.

Logan and Maris invited Freddie and Sam to a supper in a nearby 5 star restaurant.

Geena and True were already discussing details about Look Ness.

According to Geena, they needed some models to present them. "But not Maris or Logan, they are too arrogant."

True agreed. "I've heard that one Sophie Girard, the great fashion designer from Paris[[27]], is in Glasgow these days. Maybe she can help us with her models?"

Geena swooned. "Awww! Sophie Girard, the greatest female fashion hog ever, Maris's mom can't hold a candle to her… only Madstyle in New Yprk is able to."

True nodded. "Mr. Maddigan, the boss of Madstyle, has already made me an offer. But for Look Ness, I prefer a European agency, they are closer. When we succeed here, we will ask Mr. Maddigan to produce it for America."

Geena smiled. "That's wonderful. But we need to get at Sophie Girard first."

True shrugged and sighed.

Dana snuck up to them. "Hi, I'm a model, too!"

True and Geena looked aghast. Weren't supermodels supposed to be girly, not rough-hewn tomboys like Dana?

Dana grinned. "I'm Sophie Girard's top model for sports fashion, especially martial look."

True and Geena nodded solemnly. That was more like it! "But we also need male models."

Dana chuckled. "As boyfriends or for displaying fashion?"

Geena choked. "If you asked that way… first, for displaying fashion, but then, a male supermodel as a boyfriend would be a nice add-on, the cream topping of the chocolate dessert."

True nodded emphatically.

Dana grinned. "Let's say, I know a whole bunch of them. And if you convince Sophie Girard, you will probably get to meet them in Glasgow as well, or maybe in London."

True and Geena squealed insanely.

Lola jumped in. "Hey, do you know that my cousin Vivienne[[28]] is working as a model for Madstyle? She would sure die for being allowed to be the first to display your _Look Ness_ in America. "

True and Geena cheered emphatically.

Dana had fumbled with her pockets. "I'm going to send a telefacsimile to Sophie over my cellular phone this very evening. Here are some photographs of the models." She distributed a few pictures.

Many girls jammed around Dana and her pics.

Dana grinned. "Their names are Joszef, Claus, Olaf, Yurgin, Mushnad, and Buckminster…[[29]]"

The girls cheered and pushed each other away, just in order to take a look at the pics. Some of them grabbed the photographs and abused them shamelessly as fetishes.

Zoey intervened. She had been away when the whole discussion about Look Ness started, and she was just reentering the foyer. "You've been talking about Sophie Girard?"

Dana nodded. "I work as a model for her."

Zoey congratulated Dana. "That's cool. I've met Sophie at the Milan fashion fair, last but one year. She can be very arrogant, though."

Dana nodded solemnly. "I can put up with her, and that impressed her more than all those girly models…"

Zoey's heart beat faster. "OK, Dana, would you please ask Sophie to give me a job as a fashion designer? Even an unpaid internship would be cool. I know that I may learn a lot from her."

Dana was flabbergasted. "Really? I mean, you are a gifted designer, but ypu want to go to Paris for that?"

Zoey nodded. "I want to travel Europe when I'm through high-school. My parents live in London, but I also want to see Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Milan… the centres of culture and the _haute coûture_."

Dana nodded. "That sounds great! Maybe we could even share an apartment, like in the old times."

Zoey beamed brightly.

Dana looked at Nicole, who was still fighting with a bunch of other girls over a photograph of some swimming suit model. "That wench is not invited!"

Nicole heard that. She sobbed. "Hey! I want to go to Europe, too. paris is renowned for its shopping facilities, and so is Amsterdam and Milan."

Dana grunted.

Nicole talked about Italian and French hair styling. "Figaro rocks!"

Zoey sighed."Please, Dana, it would be so cool if the three of us shared an apartment in Paris…"

Dana sighed deeply. "OK, but Nicole would have to bow to my rules…"

Zoey smiled. That would have been perfect, like in their first year at PCA.

Nevel stumbled in. "Are you all insane? We are doomed, and all you talk about is fashion, money, and fame. You will rue it!"

Megan agreed. "Until dystopia!"

Zoey was consternated. It didn't matter whether Maris's mom or Sophie Girard or Madstyle published the Look Ness, without the publicity of Logan's movie, the whole project was going to be a dud. And Logan's movie about the monster of Loch Ness was most likely to trigger something like the ghost of Charles Galloway, if Megan and Nevel were right. And they were very likely not wrong.

Mrs. Briggs interrupted the gathering. "Boys and girls, listen to Mrs. Briggs!" She blew briefly into her pipes, making everyone tremble. "There haven't been too many exciting things on our trip, barring my bagpipe performance…"

The pupils shuddered with disgust.

Mrs. Briggs grinned. "Hence we will visit the castle of one of my ancestors before we return to Glasgow."

Zoey sighed. What if the castle was haunted, like many castles up here were rumoured to be? She shivered.

* * *

** Chapter 9. Firth of Forth**

* * *

The bus rolled on.

Dundee was now history, and Glasgow was not far away.

The Firth of Forth was located to the left-hand side of the pupils.

Closer and closer they came to Glasgow.

But, somewhere on the wayside, there was the castle of one of Mrs. Briggs's forerunners.

Krissy told the pupils a lot about the history and geography of the Firth of Forth.

Many pupils chuckled when they heard the strange name. Was that name a joke?

As in many other regions of Scotland, nature was in danger of being subdued by aggressive insdsutrialisation, especially petrochemical industry.

Alas, the Firth of Forth was of particular environmental interest.

Addie and Geena speculated what their friend Zachariah Carter-Schwartz, a flaming environmentalist activist, would have said. But they were glad that he had decided to refuse to join them abroad. Flights to Europe consumed way too much petrol, and thus he could not approve of them.

Fredward Benson, on the other hand, loved to import things from Europe, regardless of how much it pollutes the air, just in order to be able to brag senselessly.[[30]] That's why he refused to let go of the proof that they had been at Loch Ness and made a picture of what he deemed an imitation of the monster of the loch. He asked Sam: "If you were a sea monster, what would be your favourite meal?"

Sam scratched her head. "Dunno… Ham? Fried chickens?"

Freddie shook his head. "It would be _fish and ships_"

Sam cackled. "Eheheheh. That was cool!"

"I am cool," replied Freddie.

Sam grunted, "don't stretch it too far, Fredweird!"

Freddie sighed.

Finally, the bus stopped in front of the castle taht, according to some cheap-and-dirty guide, belonged to some branch of the ancestry of Mrs. Briggs.

The pupils left the bus, one by one.

* * *

Krissy and Mrs. Briggs lead the pupils to the castle entrance.

The castle guards required 2 British Pounds per person.

Mrs. Briggs was upset, as she was a descendant of the original owners.

Alas, the guards did not believe that, and, even if they did, this would not automatically imply that Mrs. Briggs was to be granted gratis access to the castle.

Dustin chuckled. "The guardsman remembers your Lewbert unto me," whispered he into Carly's ear.

Carly smiled. She scratched her chin. "Hey, you are sure on some track…"

Dustin smiled. "What if we messed with him?"

Carly beamed. "Yeah, let's mess with Lewbert II!"

Carly and Dustin high-fived.

But how to mess with the guards?

Megan walked up to her cousin. "Sorry, Carly, but I've got an idea…"

It was evident that Mrs. Briggs's negotiations with the guards was still going on for quite a few minutes, giving Megan the opportunity to prepare a prank on the Lewbert-like guard.

Finally, Mrs. Briggs had paid the toll for herself and the pupils.

They had to enter the castle in a long queue.

"Accidentally", Megan left a small parcel at the entrance, reading "Pizza Service"

* * *

The visit to the castle itself had been boring.

Mrs. Briggs had talked a lot of nonsense, and a lot of true yet annoying details about medievel architecture in this region of Scotland.

The most interesting events had been Sam's questions about medieval food preparation, but Mrs. Briggs was clueless.

The castle's phantasm did not show up, contrubuting much to the disappointment of many a pupil.

Nevel Papperman explained that Mrs. Briggs must have scared away the spirits of her ancestry.

Carly chuckled. "Probably…"

Freddie insisted that there was no such thing as phantasms.

Carly didn't believe Freddie anymore. "If you dragged the curse from Loch Ness to Seattle, you'll be so sorry!"

This didn't sound like Carly, but she was fed up with Freddie's foul excuses.

They had to pass teh guards on their way out.

The "Lewbertish" guard's teeth were all green, as remarked by his colleague.

Looking into a mirror, the Lewbert-clone started to scream.

The pupils were dismayed. What sort of disease was that?

Quinn sighed. She had read a bunch of books about medicine, but she had not yet come across a disease that dyed your teeth in a green colour. She wondered how to figure, but there was an idea…

Cookie reminded Quinn that, at the end of the guide in Inverness Centre For Medical Technology, they had been awarded a sort of electronic encyclopaedia describing millions of diseases, as they had been the most constructive and most attentive visitors, ever!

Quinn agreed. "OK, let's start a search!" She pushed a few buttons on Cookie who had donned some special gear, allowing him to read the entries of the e-encyclopaedia without inclining his head.

After a few minutes, Cookie spat out some diagnosis. "_Odontotemiculitis_[[31]] … this disease of the bones usually starts with teeth's colour changing to some green or blue shade. If not treated, the disease reaches other bones of the victim's skeleton…" He did not dare to read the further consequences. They were scary, way too scary!

Quinn asked about possibilities of treatment.

Cookie mentioned a series of painful injectiones all over the victim's body, quite a few dozens of them, were necessary in order to stop the progres of the disease. "There are some unsafe traditional remedies, which involve the urinal liquid of lizards."

Many of the pupils were close to vomiting.

Apparently, the guard had got a pet lizard, just like Lewbert.[[32]]

The pupils rushed out on the castle guards when the disgusting guard tried to get the lizard to piss into his mouth.

Megan giggled. "We've really messed with the sucker, haven't we?"

Carly nodded. "Your prabnks are still the best!"

Megan beamed.

Dustin and Nevel high-fived.

The pupils weren't anymore far from their bus, when the latter - still empty - started to burst ablaze.

Mrs. Briggs squealed with terror

"What was that?"

Nevel explained. "Fredward Benson! I've told you not to take any pics of the monster with you…"

Freddie still denied that there was any such thing as curses.

Carly grunted, as Freddie's disbelief was perversely annoying.

The flames were not hard to extinguish, and the pupils' belongings could be saved.

Actually, only the top of the roof had been on fire.

But the pupils needed to wait for another bus in order to continue the trip.

Freddie moaned, "busses may set ablaze for totally natural reasons…"

Sam nodded vigorously. "My great-uncle has set a few police busses on fire, totally naturally, just using some piece of curved wire and…"

Caly glared angrily at Sam.

Freddie urged Quinn to soeak some scientific word of power.

Alas, Quinn started talking for many a minute about detailed descriptions of theoretical technical possinilities of blazing bus roofs, followed by thermodynamic equations involving sharp estimates for enthalpy and entropy.

Quinn's talk went even far above Freddie's head.

Nevel remarked that technical reasons do not constitute a valid objection against curses. "It's called synchronicity, sis!"

Quinn shrugged. OK, C. G. Jung, some psycho-freak from Switzerland, had used that term for strange coincidences, but why had Nevel just called her _sis_?

Yet unbeknownst to the pupils, the Royal Fire Brigades were not going to find the cause for the burning roof, detailled scrutiny notwithstanding.

That fact was not going to be beknownst to the pupils before their departure from Europe, though.

* * *

The closer Glasgow came, the more excited turned Lola Martinez, as she wanted to make it, by all means, to Drake Parker's concert.

Megan whispered silently. "OK, I've got five tickets with backstage passes. Be careful, don't let everyone know, or…"

Lola ignored the warning. "Yeah! I've got a ticket with backstage pass for Drake's concert!"

Immediately, a bunch of envious girls tried to seize and rob Lola.

Mrs. Briggs, who would, of course, be adamantly apposed to any of the pupils going to a concert by the worst noise maker of America, according to her opinion, was upset. "What?"

Zoey Brooks intervened. "They are playing a virtual game, where they may win virtaul tickets for virtual concerts. Lola must have beat the high score, again…"

Mrs. Briggs shrugged. "Back to your seats! I'm going to play again _Piper Of Dundee_ "

Most of the pupils moaned with disgust.

* * *

The Piper came to our town  
And he played so bonnilie

* * *

Most of the pupils stuffed their ears again.

Dana puked.

Stangely, Lola was glad since Mrs. Briggs had intervened. She had finally learned her lesson, and she was now carefully choosing her companions for the concert.

Dana had been able to agree with her boss Sophie on a meeting in Glasgow, evaluating Zoey's abilities as a fashion designer.

They needed now a way to sneak away from Mrs. Briggs in order to make it to Mrs. Girard.

Lola had soon made a list of the girls she wanted to take with herself to the concert:

Zoey Brooks, Dana Cruz, Nicole Bristow, and Geena Fabiano.

Carly was still desperately thinking about a way to dissuade Freddie and Sam from taking the pictures of Nessie back to America, before it was too late. Hadn't the warning been clear enough?

* * *

** Chapter 10. Concert In Glasgow**

* * *

Finally, the bus arrived once more in Glasgow, or, in Gaelic, Glaschu, the Green Hollow.

The kids dragged their suitcases into the hostel.

Megan offered Zoey to distract Mrs. Briggs, allowing her to meet Sophie Girard, along with Dana.

Dustin hugged Zoey. "Be careful, sis!"

Zoey smiled. "I will sure try to."

Alas, Dustin was more and more afraid of Sam's and Freddie's audacious, hybric attempt of sneaking pictures of Nessie to America.

Zoey and Dana snuck away.

Mrs. Briggs wanted to count the kids.

Megan stepped up to hwer. "Sorry, Ma'am, but I think your bagpipes are mistuned!"

Mrs. Briggs was twempted to forget about her duties. " Really? How dare you to say that?"

Nevel explained, "I've got the absolute audition."

Mrs. Briggs was not easily willing to believe it.

Nevel took his recorder. "I'm giving a short demo." He showed how easily he could tell the temperature of the duct of his recorder from the sound it made.

Mrs. Briggs coughed. "OK, you need to retune my bagpipes on site!"

Nevel nodded.

Mrs. Briggs totally forgot about the pupils, and she returned to her room, followed by Nevel and Megan.

Quinn smiled. "You have to tune my trombone[[33]], too, when we are back to Seattle! "

Nevel promised to do so.

Quinn swooned.

* * *

Dana had dragged Zoey successfully to some café near the centre of Glasgow.

Zoey was already nervously waiting for Sophie Girard.

There she was…

Dana waved at Sophie who crossed the square next to the café, followed by a crew of male models and marketing managers.

Sophie yelled, "you stinky freaks! There's Cruz, don't disturb me, or I'll kick your sore hindsides bleeding!"

Zoey trembled.

Dana grinned proudly. "Don't worry, she's totally different when I'm a lot closer."

Zoey shrugged. Then she took her pocket digicam, taking a few more pictures of the male models.

Dana introduced them again, "Olaf, Claus, Joszef, Yurgin, Mushnad, Buckminster."

Zoey shook hands with Sophie Girard and her followers. Then she begged the models to handsign the pictures. "It's for my friend Nicole. She likes collecting pictures of cute boys!"

The flattered boys scribbled their names next to their pictures.

Sophie urged everyone to move on to the business part.

Zoey rendered a folder with her designs unto Sophie, including her Drake-Parker shirt, her designs for the outfit for the Jet-X commercials[[34]], the official PCA backpack, and more.

Sophie's eyes bugged out. "That's marvellous!"

Zoey smiled.

Sophie Girard decided to give Zoey a chance. "But don't think it is an easy teenage job. You need to be both fast and creative in order to make it into the professional business."

Zoey nodded.

Sophie made a quick list of 200 designs she expected from Zoey durin g the next eight months. "If you can do this, you're with me. Many have tried, thinking it too easy, but they failed miserably. And, of course, plagiarising others is not allowed. You think you are up to the task?"

Zoey had a tough time. It was not little for a highschool senior girl. But, after a quarter of pondering… "Yes, I've gut the guts to tackle that task…"

Sophie grinned. "Very good! Don't forget the deadlines. Good luck, you will need it!" Sophie took Dana. "OK, now we need to talk about our next presentation."

Zoey was too excited to listen to Sophie's and Dana's banter.

* * *

Two hours later, Zoey and Dana had arrived straight at the concert hall. She held the tickets in her hands.

Nicole, Geena, and Lola were already waiting.

Zoey told her friends about the encounter with Sophie Girard.

Geena and Lola were even more excited than Zoey had been.

Zoey rendered the tickets to her friends. "And these pics are for Nicole, hand-signed."

Nicole squeaked like a drugged fury. "Aren't they cute? So very very cute! I want to go to Paris and meet them on a daily base!"

Dana tried to shut Nicole up, but she failed completely.

Finally, the giorls moved past the entrance guards, up to the audience doors.

* * *

Drake Parker was very excited when he greeted his fan. He was already nervously looking whether Lola was around. Megan's SMS announcing that she was about fooling the stupid teacher had been sent over an hour ago.

Josh stepped up to Drake, whispering, "They are here, somewhere in section D."

Drake did not know where that was, hence Josh had to tell him.

Josh told Drake to start singing.

Drake started with a few songs of his own, such as _Found A Way_, _Up Periscope_, _I Know_, _Hollywood Girl_,[[35]]

, before he started to sing something different.

* * *

I was sick and tired of everything  
When I called Lola right from Glasgow  
All I do is eat and sleep and sing  
Wishing every show was the last show  
So imagine I was glad to hear Lola's there  
Suddenly I feel all right  
And it's gonna be so different  
When I'm on the stage tonight

Tonight the  
Super trouper lights are gonna find me  
Shining like a sun  
Smiling, having fun  
Feeling like the number one  
Tonight the  
Super trouper beams are gonna find me  
But I won't feel blue  
Like I always do  
'cause nearby Lola will be, too[[36]]

* * *

The audience cheered fanatically.

Lola jumped up and down.

The speaker of the organisation wondered what was going on.

Josh whispered to him that Lola was a real visitor whom Drake was particularly excited to see.

The organiser used the megaphone, begging Lola to come on stage.

Lola was surprised.

Zoey and Nicole carried Lola to the stage.

Lola threw her arms around Drake.

Drake said a few words. "Lola is an aspiring Hollywood actree. You will see her on the screen more often pretty soon, even outside the US, I swear, especially as the feature girl of my upcoming music videos."

Lola blushed.

Happy for Lola, Nicole and Zoey smiled brightly.

Drake also recognised Zoey and Nicole.[[37]] "Wow, you are Lola's best friends? Really?"

Lola nodded, smiling like a goddess.

The audience requested frenetically Lola to stay on the stage, right by Drake's side, when he continued his performance.

Suddenly, Zoey's phone rang. She picked it up. "Zoey Brooks… Megan? What? Thanks…"

Zoey's face darkened.

The others wondered what was going on.

Zoey explained, "It was Megan… Mrs. Briggs became bored, and she noticed what was going on from all the hype concerning Drake Parker. Now she's on the way hereto."

Drake and Lola were like petrified.

Megan says that Nevel is following Mrs. Briggs, trying to stop her.

"That little scary creep," replied Drake.

Zoey sighed. "That doesn't matter now. Unless we stick together, we will be in total trouble."

Josh twitched with agony.

Alas, Zoey had got an idea. "Carly told me that Mrs. Briggs had got a big crush on Randy Jackson.[[38]]"

Nicole sighed. "Randy is cute, too, for an old man that is…"

Lola stuffed Nicole's mouth.

Josh grinned. "Randy is Drake's producer!"

Zoey nodded. "And there it is… it will all be a surprise, we tell Mrs. Briggs that we have been planning a surprise date for her, with nobody less than Randy Jackson!"

Drake high-fived with Zoey. "That's great!"

Mrs. Briggs appeared, totally infuriated, beating the security guards with her umbrella.

Zoey explained the "situation".

Mrs. Briggs beamed. "A date with Randy Jackosn?" She swooned endlessly. "Awwwwww Randy, sweet Randy!"

During the following days, Mrs. Briggs w forget about everything, even about her bagpipes.

Drake continued his performance with _Makes Me Happy_[[39]].

Lola snuggled tenderly on his lap when Drake sang that song.

"OK, my dear audience," concluded Drake, "I did not know about Lola back when I made this song, but now I know that this song has, that notwithstanding, always been really about Lola Martinez!"

A final applause by the masses concluded the concert.

* * *

Finally, it was time to say good-bye to Glasgow, and good-by to Scotland.

Megan picked her oboe, backed by Nevel's recorder, and they performed Rabbie Burns's immortal tune _Should Auld Acquaintance_.

* * *

We twae hae paidl'd in the burn[[40]]  
Frae morning sun till dine[[41]]  
But seas between us braid hae roar'd  
Sin auld lang syne.  
For auld lang syne, my jo[[42]]

For auld lang syne,  
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet  
For Auld Lang Syne

* * *

This was also the moment to say good-bye to Krissy who was not going to return to London with the American visitors.

The kids had prepared some gift for Krissy, a cup with her name engraved.

A last wave, and Scotland was history for our vistitors… was it really?

* * *

** Chapter 11. Back To USA**

* * *

The plane took off from Heathrow into the evening sky which was chock full of billowing grey clouds.

Raindrops drummed against the windows of the plane.

Zoey left good old Britain with a bag of mixed feelings.

On the one hand, the prospects of going to share an apartment in Paris with Dana and Nicole sounded perfect. It was so much like in the good old times of 101 Butler Hall.

On the other hand, the curse of Loch Ness was possibly devastating for all the pupils participating in the field trip, if Nevel's predictions were true.

They had to leave Dana in Europe, as she was returning to paris with her boss Sophie Girard.

In the worst case, already this very flight from London to New York was cursed. Well, it was cursed in the usual sense that Mrs. Briggs continued torturing the pupils with bagpipe musics.

But, as usual, Quinn's music patcher worked wonders.

With relief, the pupil listened to the pilot's announce that the plane was about landing in New York Queens.

* * *

The plane had come down from the white and blue sky, touching the ground of the city of freedom.

But did that also mean freedom from the curse?

In any case, the group of pupils was now going to separate, which was not easy for most of the pupils, as they had made a whole bunch of new friends from across the country.

Nicole was going to take a plane from New York to St. Louis. She was about weeping when she had to leave Zoey again, which was totally unusual for Nicole.

Zoey held Nicole tightly in her arms. "Don't cry, there's still hope for us to be together in Paris, with Dana!"

Mrs. Briggs heard that Randy Jackson was currently in New York. For that avail, she left the pupils on their own, assigning Josh Nichols as the new responsible adult for those who were going to return to Los Angeles where Spencer Shay was going to take over for those who were going to take the plane from Los Angeles to Seattle.

Josh twitched spasmodically.

Megan laughed her hindside off. "Joshiboob as a responsible adult?"

Josh sighed. "I've missed you too, Megan!" He hugged his little step-sister dizzy.

Drake chimed in.

Megan coughed. "Get your boob fingers of me!"

Nevel menaced the boobs. "You will rue it!"

Drake and Josh sighed.

Zoey also needed to say good-bye to her new colleagues, True and Geena.

True was not yet aware of the fact that Max and Sophie were at each other's throat, and hence the decision to leave "Look Ness" unto Sophie Girard was not going to make him happy.

Chase waved sadly at Addie. "We'll see us next year in some summer camp for songwriters!"

Addie waved back at her new loverboy.

In any case, the plane to Los Angeles was now going to take off.

* * *

Zoey sighed deeply when she breathed once more the air of sunny California.

Spencer Shay had already been waiting at the airport.

Zoey coughed. This was the responsible adult for the delegation from Seattle? According to the words of Dad Shay, Spencer was hardly responsible enough to take care of Carly alone, so how could Mrs. Briggs have had the guts to tell Spencer that he was now responsible for a whole bunch of kids? Then she noticed Spencer's outfit. Caramba! That was every piece her design!

Dustin and Carly were of course sad because they had to separate again.

Spencer huggled the hell out of Carly, and also a bit of Sam and Freddie.

Carly introduced Zoey and Dustin to Spencer. "And now tell them about Socko!"

Spencer blathered a lot of nonsense.

Zoey grunted, "I have designed those socks, and suits, and shirts, and…"

Carly chuckled. "Want to check his underwear?"

Spencer screamed like crazy.

Zoey shook her head. "That isn't necessary."

Spencer sighed. "OK, Socko is a made-up name. The pal exists, but the socks he has ordered over the interweb, some auctioning site."

Zoey grinned. "OK! That sounds better. But you definitely need to keep better care of Carly, now that she is my brother's girlfriend."

Spencer was flabbergasted.

Zoey explained, "they haven't done any disgusting stuff, such as making out. They won't do that anyways anymore when they are thousand miles apart."

Spencer shrugged.

Zoey huggled Spencer. "Your my one and only favourite customer… Oops!"

Dustin and Carly chuckled when they looked at each other.

Drake and Josh had to cuddle with Spencer, too.

But Freddie and Sam had to tell Spencer first that they were now dating.

Spencer gasped and almost passed out in the arms of the boobs upon hearing the message of the kids.

Megan cackled like crazy. "And there are even bigger boobs…"

Dustin waved sadly at Carly, but the Seattle kids had to board their plane.

Megan waved equally sadly at Nevel. "But one day…"

Drake, Josh, and Megan entered Drake's car.

Lola smooched the living hell out of Drake before he could start the engines of the vehicle.

A bus was taking the kids of the Pacific Coast Academy back to their campus.

* * *

Finally, Spencer arrived back at Bushwell Plaza, along with the kids.

Back in their loft, Carly started talking about the monster.

Sam and Freddie laughed like crazy. "Logan must have paid some people to dress as a monster…"

Spencer wasn't sure what to believe. He could impossibly call his little sister a liar.

Carly and Sam almost started to beat each other when Freddie told Spencer about the wonderful pictures they had taken at the Loch.

Carly mentioned the curse Nevel had been talking about.

Spencer trembled. "OK, so no iCarly with pictures from the Loch in mt loft!"

Freddie and Sam pouted. They started to hate Spencer.

Marissa Benson stormed in. "Freddie, you hve been fighting monsters? I've told you to stay away from them!" She grabbed one of his ears and pulled him back into the Benson apartment.

Sam started weeping.

Spencer had got an idea. "OK, if you think the monster was a fake, anyways, then you may as well use another fake monster in your show."

Carly nodde3d solemnly.

Spencer was looking for a few materials. "I will make a sculpture of a monster of Loch Ness, and another short movie like that of my space hamster.[[43]]"

Remembering how infinitely long it had taken Soencer to make his first short movie of a duration of just a few seconds, Carly and Sam despaired.

* * *

Freddie counted the seconds. "Online in 5…4…3…2"

Carly announced, "I'm Carly!"

Sam replied, "I'm Sam!"

Then they waved at the viewers. "Back from Scotland!"

Carly explined that they had prepared a short movie about their trip to Loch Ness.

Sam nodded. "Unfortunately. Spencer's method would have been too slow, so we have hired a totally freaky and dweebish sock puppeteer…"

Carly coughed. "Applause for…"

Sam triggered intentionally the boo key.

Carly completed: "Nevel Papperman!"

Nevel walked in. "OK, fans of iCarly, today's the day…" He introduced the dolls of Carly, Freddie, Sam, Megan, himself, Mrs. Briggs, and the monster to the viewers.

The little sock puppet play was applauded by the viewers.

* * *

Malcolm Reese was equally amazed by the sock puppet thing, so he decided to use that instead of the incomplete pictures Logan had made.

This way, the greatest sock puppet movie about the adventures at Loch Ness was born.

This way, Look Ness became outrageously popular without triggering the curse of Loch Ness.

Nevel,Carly, Freddie, and Sam were going to be sent to the Pacific Coast Academy just a year later.

Hence Carly was with Dustin, Nevel with Megan the whole long year.

Spencer was accepted as a teacher for arts.

Look Ness beat all the records, which enabled Zoey, Nicole, and Dana to share an apartment in Paris.

The sock puppet of the monster had to serve one more purpose: Messing with doorman Lewbert.

Freddie hit in front of Lewber's desk and suddenly stretched the puppet aloft.

Lewbert screamed with terror, and he left Bushwell for good.

Mrs. Briggs had been turned down by Randy, and hence she was too depressive for continuing her career as a teacher.

And one day, Megan and Nevel were going to beat the monster for real and return to the promised lands of the Hebridean islands.

* * *

** The End**

* * *

[[1] ]_Zoey 101_ : _Curse At PCA_

* * *

[[2] ]alluded in _Zoey 101_ : _Coffee Cart Ban_

* * *

[[3] ]_iCarly_ : _iNevel_

* * *

[[4] ]see _Zoey 101_ : _Quinn's Alpaca_

* * *

[[5] ]an abandoned character from an unfinished original fic by Zina Nevirone

* * *

[[6] ]_Fada Bho Abhainn An T-Sluaigh_ by Runrig which I don't own

* * *

[[7] ]The sky above London is neither clear nor dark. Neither the big candle of daylight nor the stars at night may be seen. This is the city devoid of sleep and peace and freedom. Steps keep on moving, the river keeps on flowing. Busy wheels keep on spinning relentlessly

* * *

[[8] ]_Drake & Josh_ : _Treehouse_

* * *

[[9] ]_Zoey 101_ : _Favor Chain_

* * *

[[10] ]The song is often assigned to the second Jacobite Rising, but this is not substantiable

* * *

[[11] ]Song by Paul McCartney which I don't own

* * *

[[12] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iKiss_

* * *

[[13] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iLike Jake_

* * *

[[14] ]movie by Mel Gibson which I don't own

* * *

[[15] ]cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Quarantine_

* * *

[[16] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iHeart Arts_

* * *

[[17] ]cf. _Psalms 74:17_

* * *

[[18] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iStage An Intervention_

* * *

[[19] ]cf _Zoey 101_ : _Chasing Zoey_

* * *

[[20] ]cf. _Zoey 101_: _Trading Places_

* * *

[[21] ]cf. _Zoey 101_: _Zoey's Ribs_

* * *

[[22] ]cf. _Zoey 101_: _New Roomies_

* * *

[[23] ]cf _Zoey 101_: _Prank Week_

* * *

[[24] ]cf. _Zoey 101_: _Spring Fling_

* * *

[[25] ]cf. _Zoey 101_: _Spring Fling_

* * *

[[26] ]cf. _iCarly_: _iGive Away A Car_

* * *

[[27] ]mentioned occasionally in _True Jackson VP_

* * *

[[28] ]cf. _True Jackson VP_ : _True Crush_

* * *

[[29] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iCarly Awards_

* * *

[[30] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iGo Nuclear_

* * *

[[31] ]spoof of _Dermatemiculitis_, cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Mindy Loves Josh_

* * *

[[32] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iHurt Lewbert_

* * *

[[33] ]cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Quinn's Alpaca_

* * *

[[34] ]cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Jet-X_

* * *

[[35] ]songs by Drake Bell which I don't own

* * *

[[36] ]based on _Super Trouper_ by ABBA which I don't own

* * *

[[37] ]cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Spring Fling_

* * *

[[38] ]cf. _Zoey 101_ : _iSpy A Mean Teacher_

* * *

[[39] ]song by Drake Bell which I don't own

* * *

[[40] ]stream

* * *

[[41] ]dinner time

* * *

[[42] ]pal

* * *

[[43] ]cf. _iCarly_ : _iHate Sam's Boyfriend_


End file.
